Yellow Eyes
by Fvckthisreality
Summary: Stan wakes up from what, he didn't know. Again, he hears it. A noise coming from outside in the hallway. He turns and looks at his alarm clock. 1:45 am. With a groan, he gets out of bed to investigate.
1. Chapter 1

Stan opens his bedroom door and stood there for a moment, listening. It was quiet in the hallway until he could hear the faint sound of someone talking. Confused, he creaks the door open a bit more. He couldn't think of anyone who would be awake at this hour.

The twins went home about a month ago, Soos and Wendy have already left. The older man frowns and steps out into the hallway, it's far too early in the morning for this spooky nonsense. He looks around his surroundings and grabs a wooden bat to arm himself with.

More talking with quite laughter brings his attention towards the front of the store.

Was he being robbed? Over his dead body!

Stan slowly makes his way to the front, bat ready to swing if needed, listening to what sounded like someone talking to themselves but couldn't understand through their harsh whispers.

"Who's there?" He demands, wanting to sound threatening. When there was no answer, he steps forward into the room but steps on something rather sharp and cuts his bare foot. Stan jerks back and curses something under his breath, scrambling to find the light switch.

Lights fills the room and he looks down at his foot, only a small cut from the glass on the floor. Wait, why was there glass on the floor? Stan looks up and draws a breath.

"Ford?"

The brother mentioned was kneeling in front of a shattered mirror and lets out a heavy sigh. Must have broken it while getting a glass of water or something.

"Sixer, you klutz. You could have turn on the lights instead of messing around in the dark." Stan sets his bat down and makes his way around the glass to help his brother. No answer, which concerns him. "Did you hurt yourself?"

Stan kneels down beside him and places a hand on his shoulder. Then he sees the blood from along Ford's hair line, running down his face.

"Hey, did you cut your head on the glass?"

It was more of a obvious statement than a question.

"Yes," The answer was so quite, he was honestly surprised he heard it in the first place. Ford's shoulders shook as if he were laughing to himself. He turns to finally look at his brother with a twisted smile, his teeth stained red. "It was fun."

Those words, the way he said it; sends a cold chill down his spine and he jumps up, stepping away from him. Yellow eyes watching him.

"Stanford, what the heck?!" He runs his hand through his hair and watches that smile grow inhumanly wider. Slowly, Ford gets to his feet using his knee to help himself up. Bits of glass imbedded in the palms of his hands. "Why-what did you do to yourself?!"

He sways on his feet and reaches up to touch his own head, shards of glass fell from his hair.

"I thought it would be a thrill to bash my own face in," He laughs, letting his hand fall back down to his side.

"That's...crazy, why would you do that?" Stan asks, his eyes catch the piece of glass in his brother's hand and takes a step back. Something was wrong but he couldn't think of what, the last thing Ford was doing before he went to bed was messing around down in the lab. Just going through some old stuff. "What did you get into?"

Instead of getting an answer, he got laughter; the kind of laughter only a mad man would make. Stan reaches behind himself to grab his bat, his hand freezes when those eyes looked at him again. Ford tilts his head to the side like he was confused.

"What's wrong? Why are you staring at me like that, Stanley?" He asks his brother with a frown. "Afraid?"

"Of course not-"

"Is it because I'm a freak?" As this, Ford looks down a his hands with a concerned expression.

"Ford no," Stan shakes his head and tries to reason with mentally deranged man. "You're hurt, your head looks bad and we need to get that glass out of your hands. Just follow me to the bathroom, I should have a first aid-AGH!"

Stan grabs his upper arm, stumbling backwards from the other lunging at him with the piece of glass. Angrily, he grabs his brother's wrist and twists it to the side, forcing him to drop it. Stan jerks him forward by his wrist and slams his elbow down to the back of his neck.

Ford lets out a breathless noise and falls to his knees while the other twin grabs his bat, holding it above his head to strike.

"Stanley, stop!" Ford tells him, his tone held concern it it. It was enough to make his brother pause and lower the bat, wondering if he had somehow managed to snap out of whatever state he was in.

"How do I know if you're yourself?" Stan asks in return. He could tell Ford was heaving, his shoulders were shaking. Wanting to make sure that the other was okay, he steps closer. "Try anything or I'll knock your head into the hardwood, got it?"

It was a empty threat, really. He didn't want to serious hurt his brother. Whatever was going on, he knew Ford had no control over. "Hey, Sixer. Say something."

Ford lifts his head in response, looking at him with a guilty expression then grins menacingly. There's a sudden pain in the top of his foot. Stan shouts and swings his fist, hitting his brother across the face. Ford falls back onto his rear, laughing as his brother took a step back to take their glass out of his foot. Stan growls, dropping his bat and kicks him, knocking him onto his side.

"Damn it, Stanford!" He kicks him onto his back and straddles his waist to keep him from getting up. Hitting him again, and again. After a few more blows, he stops to breathe. He had busted his brother's lip and could see where bruise were already starting to form. Guilt riddles his chest.

Ford stares up at him with a dull look and runs his tongue over the bloody cut on his lip, his hands laying uselessly by his head.

The two just sat there in silence, staring at one another.

First things first, deal with Ford then try to clean up whatever mess he's gotten himself into.

"Don't hold this against me afterwards, it's for your own good." Stan tells him. He hits him again, hard enough to make his head bounce off the floor with a loud creak, leaving the elderly man unconscious. He drops his hands to his sides and takes a deep breath to ground himself, taking in his surroundings.

Glass and blood everywhere. This is going to be a huge pain to clean up. His eyes were drawn back to the shattered mirror and he winces, afraid that some of the glass was left in the wound of his brother's head.

"Let's go clean you up," He gets up off of the other and lifts him up off the floor with a grunt. It seems like Ford has lost weight since he last held him. He tries not to dwell on it too much and takes him to his room, he'll just patch him up in there.

After finally getting all the glass out of his brother's hair, he manages to stitch up the gash on his head; clean and bandaged his hands. Running his thumb over each of his brother's fingers tenderly, he exhales out of his nose and checks his restraints again.

"That should make sure you stay put until I get back," He amusingly thinks about tying the other down nightly to make sure his brother got plenty of sleep instead of staying up all hours of the night.

Stan gets to his feet and presses a kiss to his hair. Fords' probably gonna have a horrible headache in the morning but he'll just bring him some migraine medication later. Right now he's more worried about what caused his brother to act this way. And what was with those yellow eyes? They looked a awful a lot like...

No, it couldn't be. That floating fiend was long gone. This had to be something else and he's sure whatever caused this was down in the lab.

"I'll be right back," This was mostly being muttered to himself but he pats his brother's leg and covers him up with his blanket. "Keep my bed warm while I'm gone."


	2. Chapter 2

The lab is an absolutely wreck; papers thrown all over the floor and things knocked over. Stan stops in front of Ford's desk-which was also a mess-and picks his chair up from its place, tipped over on the floor. His brother must have trashed the place before he made his way upstairs. What could have caused him to trash the place, he wonders. Ford had always been a neat freak, everything had to be always organized and clean. Even when they were kids, their bedroom had to always been clean or he'd throw a fit. Ford would have heart attack if he saw the lab in this condition.

Stan begins picking up the papers off the floor, along with some of his pens and other tools that were originally on the desk when he notices one of his brother's journals laying on the floor, open and on its pages. Something that means so much to him, just discarded on the ground? That's another thing his brother wouldn't do.

He makes a face and picks it up, running his fingers over the pages it was open to. It looks like one of the pages had been torn out. Frowning, he thinks to himself 'That's not good, did Ford do this?'

Stan closes it and sets the journal on the desk. Maybe he can find the missing page somewhere around in this mess or anything that could help him figure out what's going on with his brother. As he starts gathering the rest of the pages off the floor and looks them over, he notices that most of them just have gibberish written on them. Nothing that he can understand, random words and scribbling.

Scratching his head, he sets them beside the journal and leans on the desk. Nothing else seems to be out of place besides the missing page but it was nowhere to be seen in the scatter of papers. Maybe that has something to do with what was wrong with Ford? Or maybe it has nothing to do with it, he doesn't know. Worry eats away at him; he hates that there is something wrong with his brother and he has no idea what it is or how to help him. He has always felt like it was his job to protect his brother, to help him but right now he feels useless and he hates it!

Stan lets out a noise of frustration, he has no idea what to do and it aggravates him. Does this have something to do with Bill? He really hopes not, he has had enough of that triangular nightmare. He reaches up and places his hand on his upper arm where his brother had cut him about an hour ago, it is throbbing along with the wound on his foot. His fingers run over the bandages as he thinks to himself.

There has to be some kind of clue down here. He can't just leave Ford strapped down all night. Well, he can but he really wants to sleep in his own bed rather than the lazy chair.

Maybe that was it? Maybe he was sleep deprived and it finally got to him? Or something? No, that doesn't make any sense. Normally when his brother got that tired, he'd just fall asleep at his desk. This wasn't something his brother would normally do. Ford would never resort to smacking his face into a mirror just because he had lack of sleep. That was weird, even by Gravity Fall standards.

He stops fidgeting with the bandages and scratches his jaw. What could his brother have done with that page missing from this journal? Did he throw it away? Stan can't understand why his brother would do that but… He looks around the room again and notices a light on in the other room along with some open boxes. Why hadn't he noticed that before? He shakes his head and blames it on his own tiredness.

Ford did say he was going to go through some things earlier, so he walks over to them. The boxes just look like they were just full of junk. Kneeling down, he goes through the first one. Just some old files and documents. The other one doesn't have much in it either, some photos and some of his old drawings but...wait...what is that? Looks like there something under them? He moves the boxes out of the way to get a better look and feels the color drain from his face. His heart was pounding in his chest as he completely removes the boxes and runs his fingers over it. Why was this here?

A carving of an eye. But not just any eye, unfortunately he knew this one by heart. It is Bill's. Around the eye, words are scratched into the wood.

'Watching'

'Can't hi'

He can't really make out that one.

'Help' and 'Here'.

And few others he can't read.

Stan run his hand over it, it looks like the floor was carved into by a pen or pencil. It was definitely done recently too.

What does this mean? The answer to that is obvious but he doesn't want to believe it. Has Bill returned? No, it can't be. He was defeated, gone for good but if that's the case then...oh no.

Stan jumps up to his feet and rushes over to the stairs leading out of the lab. Yellow eyes, of course. He wants to smack himself for being this ignorant. So stupid! He had a feeling but chose to ignore his gut simply because he didn't want to believe it was true.

Almost tripping over his baseball bat from earlier, he reaches his bedroom and swings the door open. If Bill is back then that means he's...

Stan's breath catches in his throat. The other, his brother was sitting up straight on the bed, flicking the straps that were previously holding him down. Ford pauses and looks up, yellow eyes meeting his gaze, he smiles.

"Heya Fez, long time no see! Did ya miss me?"


	3. Chapter 3

A chill runs down his spine as he watches Ford, no, Bill turns and lets his legs over the side of the bed.

"You look so surprised to see me," Bill runs a hand through Ford's wild hair, over the bandages. "Even patched me up, so lovingly tender."

Stan's hands curls up into fists in grievance, he doesn't take his eyes off of Ford, eh no, Bill. What was he doing here? This shouldn't even be happening, they were supposed to be safe.

"What do you want?" Stan deadpans, wanting to get to the point before he starts seeing red.

"I just wanted to see my favorite pair of twins." Bill replies gleefully, turning his attention to the supplies Stan used earlier to patch his brother up. Bill picks up the needle that was used to stitch up Ford's head and twirls it in between his fingers. He pauses when he sees the uneasiness run across the other's face, he grins mischievously. "What's with that look? Afraid I'm going to hurt your brother some more?"

"So you're here for revenge, is that it?" Stan says, closing his bedroom door and leans against it. "Here to kill us now?"

"Oh fezzie, fezzie. Can we just put the past behind us? We had our fun times with death and world domination." He shakes his shoulders with joyful sigh, getting up on his feet and making his way over to Stan. He stops in front of seeming stunned man and looks him straight in the eyes, twirling that needle in his fingers. "No, no. I'm here for fun."

It happen quicker before he had the chance to to stop him. Suddenly one moment he sticks Ford's tongue out, the next he's sticking that needle up through it and watching it come out through the top.

Stan's lost for words, probably in shock and this amuses the demon greatly as he pulls the needle out and flicks it across the room to be forgotten. He runs his tongue over his still busted lip, blood smearing across then gives the brother a twisted grin.

"You're sick," Stan manages to get out, wanting to shove the lunatic away but knew better to. It would only result unfavorable for him, so he keeps still as the other invades his space. Bill presses his hand against the door beside Stan's head and leans in close, tilting his head as he watches the others face.

"Sick, you say?" The tone in the demon's voice sounds delighted, the six-fingered hand comes up to touch his face, earning a startled jolt. "Humans have their body parts stabbed all the time for their aesthetics but when I do it, it's considered sick? How hypocritical, talk about double-standards."

Bill laughs and pulls back, flicking Stan's nose mockingly then turns his back on him.

"Is there something you want or are you just going to torture my brother all night?"

"As tempting as that sounds, I'm here for a reason." Bill turns sharply on his heel and sits down on the end of the bed, crossing a leg over another, "Fordsie has something I want and I can't seem to find it in his memories."

"Something you want?"

"He locked up tight but it'll only be a matter of time before I crack it, or him." Stan grits his teeth and a noise of anger bubbles up from his threat. This doesn't go unnoticed by Bill and the demon raises a brow.

"So you've been hurting him to get him to talk?!" Stan grabs him by his collar and pulls him close, knowing he wouldn't be intimidated but did it anyway out of rage.

"Tell me where the page is and I'll just might let you and your brother go," Bill replies, unfazed by the aggressiveness.

"Page?" He asks, momentarily confused then it clicks. Bill must be referring to the missing page from his brother's journal.

"So you have no clue what I'm talking about?" Bill dissolves into laughter and brushes the other off with ease. "Of course your own brother wouldn't bother telling you, a big imbecile like you would be easy to break!"

Stan swings his fist at him, only to have it dodged by a slight tilt of his head and his wrists caught in a rough grip.

"Why can't you just leave us alone!" Stan shouts at him, frustrated.

"Why would I do that and miss all this?" Bill retaliates and tightens his grasp on his wrist and gets a painful yelp from the elderly man, making him fall to his knees. "This is so much more fun, you two always know how to make the right expressions to entertain me."

The deviant grabs a fistful of his hair, forcing his head back to make the other look up at him and smiles.

"Like the one on your face right now!" Stan narrows his eyes at him with detest, wanting nothing more than to knock that smug look off his, no...Ford's face. He frowns, Stan couldn't do much of anything to him without hurting his brother. "Perhaps...there's another way I could get what I want."

Stan winces when he roughly tugs on his hair to lean back on the bed, reaching for something on the table. Unfortunately pulling his face towards Ford's pelvic regions in the process. His face heats up and turns red, closing his eyes wondering if this asshole was doing it on purpose.

"There we are!" Bill claims cheerfully, sitting back up; much to Stan's relief, only to have the moment cut short from the sound of snipping. Stan looks up and sees the pair of blood-smeared surgical scissors he used earlier in his hands. "There's more than one way to beat a horse, am I right? So if IQ won't tell me what I want to know even when I'm tormenting him then I'll just have to shift the pain onto you. What do you say, Fezzy? Which ear are ya less fond of?"

Stan jumps up, suddenly finding the energy. Forcing him back onto the bed to hold him down by his wrists. Bill snickers and kicks his legs but they uselessly hung over the edge of the bed.

The man reaches to toss away the scissors but gasps when fingers tangle in his hair again and suddenly has a forehead smashing against his face, breaking his nose with a sickeningly crack. The pain so intense, it made his head spin and fell on top of the other, his head spinning and disoriented; Stan reaches up to feel blood running down his face.

Bill took the opportunity to turn the tables and rolls him off and pins him down, wrapping his hands around his throat.

"Should I kill him now or torture him a bit, Sixer? The choice is yours." He says aloud, meaning Ford must be here with them. "No more deals, I want what I came for."

While the omnipotent deity and his unseeable brother bickered back and forth, he tries reaching for the scissors. Bill cleans the inside of his ear with a twist of his pinkie with annoyance, not really fond of having brainiac shouting in his ear and pauses, noticing the man under him moving. He chuckles and picks the scissors up, out of Stan's grasp.

"You want a deal, Fordsie." Bill keeps Stan down with one hand on his throat while the other was held above him, scissors pointing downwards. "Alright, let's make another deal. You give me the ritual and spell and I'll let your brother live, no other options."

"What...are you talk about?" Stan asks, trying to breathe through his nose. Barely getting any air down into his lungs, they begun to burn from lack of oxygen. Bill flicking his eyes down towards him was the only indication the other was even listening to him but was ignored anyway. Stan reaches up and grabs the hand around his neck, trying to get him to let up on the pressure. His vision began to get fuzzy as he started to suffocate.

"Smart choice," Bill replies to an answer he couldn't even hear and lets go so he could breathe again. He feels the weight lift off his chest as the other got off the bed, hazily hearing Bill talk some more but by the time his senses cleared and he could think straight again; both Bill and his brother were gone.


	4. Chapter 4

Stan sits at his desk, chin resting in the palm of his hand. He couldn't focus at all on his work, he's been staring down at the sheet for next month's stock orders for about a good hour. Couldn't sleep a wink after what happen, just wallowed in self-loathing.

He failed to protect him and lost his brother. Again.

The guilt causes him to shake. Setting his pen down, he runs his hand through his hair. He couldn't panic now, Ford needs him too much right now for him to freak out.

"Get it together, Stanley." He tells himself, running a hand over his face. "You won't be able to help him if you break down now."

Stan takes a deep breath and pulls out his phone.

No messages and Ford hasn't returned any of his calls. Worry begins to eat at him, what if his brother was already dead?

The knock at his door brings him out of his dark thoughts. Soos opens the door and pokes his head in.

"I swept up all the glass, boss." He tells him, "Are you wanting me to open the shack yet?"

"And pay for someone hospital bill if someone manages to get hurt?" Stan replies, putting on his act of a tough guy. "Out of the question."

"Alright, sir." The younger man nods and turns to leave but pauses before he could open the door. "So how did you break the mirror again?"

"I was half asleep and it was dark," Stan answers, pushing his work papers aside. "It was an accident, nothing else."

"Was that how you broke your nose?" Soos presses, curiously but too much for Stan's liking.

"Yeah, sure." He tries to brush it off like he didn't care.

"Did you and your brother get into a fight again?" Soon asks with concern. It makes Stan tense and looks up to see his face match the tone of his voice. He couldn't tell him what really happen last night, he didn't want anyone to go through this again if he could handle it himself.

"Yeah, Soos. We got into it last night but everything's fine-"

"I haven't seen Mr. Ford around today."

"He, uh, went out to blow off some stream but he'll be back soon." Stan promises him, mostly to himself. "So don't worry about it."

"But sir,"

"It was my fault," Stan easily takes the blame because it certainly wasn't Ford's fault. "I deserved what I got, I was really trying to push his buttons last night. Trying to get a rise out of him, so I'll handle it."

"You guys shouldn't fight as much."

"Tell you what," Stan sits back in his chair, "When he gets back, I'll apologize. Better yet, I'll go out and look for him right now. Will that make ya happy?"

"Really?" This seems to please Soos, so he nods his head.

"Yeah, if you'll hold down the fort while I'm gone." Soos gives him a little salute and gives him a serious nod.

"Won't let you down, boss!" Soos smiles widely.

Stan can't help but give a small smile but quickly wipes it off his face and stands up to leave.

"Don't open the shop, just make sure nobody robs the place." He tells him, grabbing his fez and heads off towards the lab.

Lucky, when him and Ford bought phones, both of them decided to put trackers in them. Hopefully Ford still has his flip phone on him, he usually does in case something happens.

He gets out the device, homing device or whatever his brother called it and flips it on. Please, please have your phone on you, Stan prays. It takes a few minutes to boot up, his adrenaline pumping in his veins but sighs with relief. Ford still has it on him, thank goodness.

"Found you," Stan leans back in his seat with a relieved sigh. Need to come up with a plan or something. He couldn't loose his brother. Rage fills his chest and he gets to his feet. No, he wasn't going to let that happen, not again.

This was the last time that blasted thing stole his brother from him.


	5. Chapter 5

His entire body was aching, his head throbbing. Ford feels the damp ground beneath him as he shifts, feeling the loose gravel under his legs. It takes him a moment to realize his glasses weren't on his face and lifts his head off the ground. His eye sight was a bit blurry but he could make out their shape a few inches away from him.

Instead of grabbing for them, he lays his head back down. His skull felt like it was about to split open, feeling the his still sore stitches. He reaches up to feel them, they...seem to be fine. What relief. Thankfully that monster hadn't pulled them out for his amusement.

Bill. Oh no. He had to get up and leave, find a way out and escape.

Oh god, but the mere thought of moving made him sick to his stomach. He tries to shallow the sticky taste in his mouth but all he tastes is copper and runs his tongue against the roof of his mouth then he feels the sting. Ford lets out a low groan, remembering what happened. Dammit Bill.

"Ow," Ford covers his mouth with his hand, his stomach tightens on itself and he retches, feeling bile rising to his throat. Ford manages to turn onto his side before he heaves and throws up on the ground beside him. It help eases the ache in his belly but he still feels nauseous. He rolls onto his back again, panting and feeling like he was close to passing out again when he suddenly feels someone's feet on either side of his hips. Ford looks up startled and sees a young man crouching down over him.

"Hey, hey now, Fordsie." The man says, lightly tapping his cheek. Ford turns his head away from his hand mutters, telling him to stop. "Can't have you passing out again, you're no fun unconscious."

Ford looks up at the man again and sees instead of a look of worry, he sees him smiling down at him. He didn't recognize him at all although he seems so familiar and for some reason, he feels uneasy by him.

"Who are you?" He asks thickly, when did his voice get strained? The man above him just grins and sits down in his sore stomach, Ford groans displeasingly. "Get off."

"Aw, you don't know who I am?" The man sets his hands just above his shoulders and leans down. "How bothersome, here I was hoping you liked this new form."

"...Form?"

"You sorry human. You can't even process what I'm saying right now, can you?" He laughs at Ford and pats his cheek. Ford wants to tell him not to patronize him but feels like it's not in his best interest to upset this person when he's not able to think clearly. "Have a rough night?"

He feels like the stranger is teasing him.

"What...do you want?" Ford's eyelids were getting heavy again, he just wants to rest them but knew he had to stay awake.

"I've already got what I wanted from you," His yellow eyes seem to glow with his words as he lean back, dragging his hands over his shoulders and chest them on his chest.

"Then leave me alone," Ford tries again, wanting the pressure off his belly but unfortunately his words hardly left his mouth. His vision gets hazy again and his consciousness flickering like a light but heaves again, feeling the other jumping off of him just as he turns to get sick again.

"Nasty!" He laughs at him, watching as the older man pulls himself together.

"Wait..." Ford pants, reaching for his glasses and puts them on with a shaky hand. He knew this person, no. This thing. "Bill?"

"Ding! Ding! Ding!" Bill claps his hands together, way too excitedly. Ford remembers everything. From studying in his lab to him being possessed when he fell asleep at his desk, trashing the lab and attacking his brother. Oh god, Stan. He could see his brother's face, his broken nose and the blood.

Ford shakes his head, feeling like the one responsible for the way his brother was left.

"You got what you want, now leave us alone." He demands, wanting to be as far as possible from this monster.

"Leave you alone? But I just got here, why would I leave when I've hardly spent anytime with my favorite point-dexter?" Bill kneels down besides him, resting his chin on the palm of his hand.

"You got what you came for, what more do you want from me?" Ford asks, "Just let me go, I have to check on Sta-"

"You know I can't do that, IQ." Ford feels himself grit his own teeth, trying his best to sit up and argue with him but his body wouldn't listen to him. Bill merrily watches him struggle for a few seconds before pulling up the man by the front of his sweater. "Old age getting the best of you?"

"You! You did this to me!" Ford smacks his hand away and lifts his head up to angrily stare at the other. His hands curl up into fists, he bites his sore lip and shakes his head. "You...you tormented me, used me to create this physical, stronger body and now you won't even let me go? You got what y-you wanted, just...I've got to go, Stan-he's..."

Bill laughs.

"Stan!? Fez? That's what you're worried about?" He lets go of his sweater and playfully smacks his leg, "Do you think a few cuts and a broken nose is going to kill him?"

"I have to know if he's okay!"

"It's hilarious that you think I actually care," Ford turns his head away from the crazed laughter, frustrated and fuming. "Awe. Come on, Fordsie. Don't be mad at me, I'm sure your dumber half is fine."

"Do you plan on keeping me here?" Ford asks, looking around and wondering where exactly 'here' was.

"Maybe, I've always wanted a pet." Bill flicks the bottom of his boot with his finger with a suddenly bored expression. Ford stares at him for a moment, looking over the body Bill created for himself and pulls his foot away to sit up straight, crossing his feet.

"Why did you decide to have a humanoid body?" The question brings Bill out of his thoughts and he looks up at the old man.

"Hmm? Oh, I wanted to try something new and exciting." He shakes his shoulders, muttering with little interest. "But I'm not really fond of this body, I preferred my older one."

"I don't know what to tell you," Ford mutters, other than he did it to himself. He rubs his aching neck, looking away from him and sighs. "I'm sure you're able to change back if you really wanted."

"You preferred it too, didn't you?" Ford glances back to him, "You drew and worshipped me like some god."

"You were my muse, not a god."

"But you looked up to me like one." Bill counters, watching the frustration run across Ford's face. This pleases him, he loved seeing this human get flustered and angry. Watching his face heat up and change in shade, it always amused him how easy the other was to rile up.

"Enough!" Ford gets on a knee to stand but when he stood on his feet, his knees gave out and he fell. Bill watches him fall back down onto his knees with a pained groan. "I'm done, I want to go home to my brother."

"Then go, what's stopping you?" Bill grins smugly, the glow in his eyes flickered brighter. "Other than your inability to even stand up?"


	6. Chapter 6

Getting out of his car and slamming the door close, he pulls at his coat and looks around at the trees. Ford had to be out here somewhere. Stan clears his throat and wanders away from his car to check the area out.

There was no landmarks, buildings, picnic area or trails that he could see. Nothing but forest for miles. This road was probably the part of Gravity Falls that was barley used, Stan walks over to the edge of the woods.

"Stanford!" He shouts, hearing some birds fly out of some nearby trees but no answer. He huffs and pulls his phone out to recheck if he had the right location. Yeah, he should be near here, somewhere. Stan closes his phone and tries calling his name again.

Nothing.

Stan's grip around his phone tightens. If Bill still had his body possessed then calling out for him would be useless anyway, so he dials his brother's number. He hears it ring a few times, muttering under his breath before hearing another fainter ring in the distance. He lowers his own phone to listen. It was close.

"Ford?" Stan follows the sound, stepping through thickets and brush, leaves crunching under his shoes and barely avoiding thorns because he was more worried about getting to his twin than he was about the little nicks on his hands.

Stan finally came to a clearing and found a old gravel road, it looks like it hasn't been used in years. He couldn't guess where it lead to and the trees probably hid it from the main road, probably forgotten when the main one was built. His eyes were drawn to a phone, still ringing on the side of the road.

There's his phone but where was his brother? He makes a face when he sees what looks like vomit a few feet from it, leaving a uneasy feeling in his own stomach; making him nauseous. Stan takes a shaky breath and picks up his brother's phone. Ford had been here but where else could have Bill taken his brother? They could still be here for all he knew, he'll just have to keep looking.

Suddenly the horn of his car goes off like something was continuously pressing against it and he turns towards its direction, confused. Stan knows he closed the door, no way a animal got into it. Maybe it was his brother? Stan pockets the cell and rushes back towards the car. The chances of it being Ford finding it and was trying to get his attention was very slim but he held onto that hope as he forces his way through the bushes, almost trips as the thick thorns catch his sleeves and pants.

Please be ok.

When the car finally came into view, Stan stops; he could see someone in the front seat, leaning against the steering wheel but...it wasn't his brother. Who is that? Stan walks up to the side of the car and raises a brow.

"Mcgucket?" Leaning down to see the old man better, he could tell that he had been attacked by something. Stan frowns, who would attack Mcgucket? Getting a closer look, he sees Fiddleford had blood dried onto his brow, a deep laceration in his upper left arm and bruises everywhere, even covering his cheeks. He reaches out to check if he was still breathing.

The man jumps at his touch and flailing his arms, crawling backwards into the passengers seat to get away.

"Getta way!" The shaken man yells, pulling his legs closer to his body and tugs on his hat to cover his face.

"Hey, it's just me." He tells him firmly but pulls his hand away to not spook him any further. He leans down for him to see him but seeing him seemed to make matters worse. "Stan Pines."

"Why did ya have to hurt me fer?!" Fiddleford asks, shaking. "I hadn't done nothin'! Getta away from me!"

"I didn't hurt you-" Stan pauses, realization hitting him and just gets into the driver seat, leaning back and watches Mcgucket shift closer towards the door. It must have been Bill who attacked him, most likely while he was still possessing Ford. The fact that he's terrified by him proves that and it makes feel sick, Ford got to be hating himself right now, riddled with even more guilt towards the man. Stan's his head, he could only imagine the self loathing his brother was going through right now. "I'm...I'm not going to hurt you, old man. You're safe. Look, you need to be patched up so I'm going to need you to calm down and trust me. Look at me, Fiddleford. I'm not gonna hurt you."

Fiddleford peeks out from under his hat to look at him, still looking nervous and hesitant to get closer, like he's afraid Stan would hurt him once he got close enough. Seeing his face more clearly, he could see a cut on his forehead, looking pretty bad with a bruise.

Stan slowly reaches in the back seat to grab the first aid he brought with him, wanting to seem as harmless as possible. He sets in his place and pats the top of it, hoping the other would understand that he wasn't going to hurt him.

"I know you're not wanting to be touched right now but I'm going to have to stitch that spot on your arm, got it?" Stan opens the kit and pulls out a needle, extending his hand out for the other. "If that's not taken care off, it'll get ugly."

Fiddleford's eyes flick back and forth between Stan's face and his hand, his body easing off the door and he looks at the cut on his arm.

"Yer...not?" Stan smiles and gives him a reassuring nod.

"Just trust me." Fiddleford returns the smile with a goofy one of his own and lets the man have a look at his wound.


	7. Chapter 7

"You made me do what!?" Ford shouts, leaning forward and tugging on the shackles that held him to the chair. He bares his teeth angrily at the other, who in return, just smiles smugly back at him.

"Don't be so angry with me, Fordsie." Bill replies, "Come on, he's alive. It's not like I made you kill him or anything."

"Fiddleford was no threat to you, he was just a defenseless old man!" Ford fights his bonds again, the metal pinching his already hurting skin. "He didn't do anything-"

His words die suddenly on his tongue when a firm hand tightens on his throat, red furious eyes stare back at him with a threatening promise behind them. Ford's anger was replaced with fear as Bill forced him back in his seat with a sinister grin.

"No, he didn't do anything wrong. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time." Bill sits down on his lap and lets go of the man's throat to loop his arms around his neck. Ford diverts his head back and feels sharp nails biting at the skin.

"He didn't deserve that." The feeling of uneasiness falls over him, feeling those yellow eyes bore into his. "Bill-"

"I don't care," Bill cuts him off, laughing at the look on his face and flicks his nose carelessly. "I don't see why you're so angry, sixer. Neither your brother or your little friend are dead, so you need to quit with the complaining."

Ford breaks their eye contact, lowering his head and looks at the silk yellow vest in front of him, decorated in gold. All he could think about was Fiddleford, the poor man didn't even have a chance to defend himself. Ford's hands curl into fists, he couldn't protect him and Mcgucket didn't even know what was going on, he didn't deserve that. It wasn't fair. Slender hands playing with the collar of his coat bring him out of his thoughts before slipping underneath and scratches at the fabric of his sweater. Ford's shoulders tense up under his hands, feeling Bill's eyes watching him intensely.

His hands stop, suddenly switching directions and running up towards his neck. Ford squeezes his eyes shut and feels fingers running through his hair, lightly dragging his nails along the back of his skull. He breathes through his nose and feels his head leaning back into the touch on it's own. It felt nice despite who was the one touching him and Ford could feel himself beginning to relax. His head lulls to the side and he looks up at Bill, his eyes were glowing.

Wait...

Why would he be so relaxed right now?

Ford's face must have given away his confusion because Bill moves his head back so he had view over his entire face and neck.

"What are you-"

"I can't practically taste you anxiety," Bill answers, cradling his head in his hands now. "I'm just trying to help you relax, Sixer. You'll throw yourself into a panic attack if you keep this up."

"Get off me!" The man turns his head and jerks his body to attempt to knock the other off but results in Bill grabbing a fistful of hair, Ford cusses and grits his teeth.

"I would settle down if I were you," Bill pats his bruised cheek mockingly so he turns his head away as the demon got up off his lap anyway. "You're not in any position to be making demands."

"What do you want from me? My help again? Because I'm not joining you, specially after what you put my family through."

"I won't be needing your help."

"If you don't need my help then why am I still here?" Bill walks around his chair and stands directly behind him, his shoulders tense up again when Bill sets his hands on them. Does he plan on killing him after he's done toying with him? "Are you...going to kill me?"

The hands on his shoulder twitch and began moving, rubbing the tension away. Ford leans his head back, seeing Bill shake his head.

"No; if I wanted you dead, you would be dead right now." He tells him, removing his hands and supporting the back of his skull again. The action leaves the man baffled and he looks up towards him with a confused look on his face. Though it wouldn't be the first time he was friendly towards him but Bill only treated him so kindly because he wanted something from him, this didn't make any sense. Bill told him he didn't need him so this was completely out of character. "What's with the confused look? Can't I miss the company of an old friend?"

"You're weren't my friend." Ford replies bitterly, "You made me think you were but you used me, I was just another expandable pawn."

"Aw, Fordie. Don't be that way, I do miss you." Bill pulls his bangs back, minding his stitches so he could see Ford's face more clearly, his own was kind of emotionless and blank like he was thinking something over. He raises a curious brow but decides it's better not to ask and remains silent. It was weird, the deity was never stayed this quite, even when he thought he was his friend and could be trusted.

Bill plays with his hair for a moment before letting that hand slip down to rest under his chin, holding his head back.

"Bill?" Ford questions, about to ask what was on his mind when he abruptly leans down over his being and kisses him. His eyes widen and his blood ran cold, his entire body just freezes up.

His mind was suddenly reeling, there's a hand on his cheek now and he feels like his face was burning. A tongue brushes between his lips, causing the cut on his lip to sting but without hesitation or thinking, Ford parts them. He feels Bill smile at the response and then slips his tongue pass his lips, brushing it against his coppery one. Ford makes a noise of complaint, stuck between wanting to shove the other away and wanting to return the affection. He feels conflicted and didn't know why, he knew he should be furious but he wasn't. No, instead he was flustered and it didn't make any sense.

A flick of a tongue and Ford feels a metal ball on Bill's tongue and realizes the irony, running his own aching tongue over the piercing. Bill pulls away and takes in the man's face, admiring the shade of pink on his cheeks and the way he had left him panting for breath.

"You look nice confused and flustered." Bill remarks, patting his cheek and standing up straight. Putting his hands behind his back, Bill walks back around him again. Ford lifts his head up and winces at the ache in his neck, feeling his senses returning. Then he feels angry, yanking his still bandaged hands against his chains again.

"You manipulative little-" He lets out the breath he'd been holding, turning his head away when Bill turn to look at him. Ford wanted to hit him, he bites his tongue to avoid shouting as rage filled his chest. "I'll strangle you.."

"Manipulative?" He hears Bill question, he hears him laugh softly to himself then footsteps coming closer. "I didn't manipulate your emotions. No, that was all you, IQ."

Ford lifts his head to look at him like he was crazy but met bright yellow eyes.

"You're lying," Ford couldn't believe that and he didn't want to, he hated this monster. Bill doesn't reply, only shakes his head amusingly.

"As much as I would love to stay watch you struggle with your inner turmoil, I've got things I need to do." Bill turns away from him, mocking him as he did. "Don't go anywhere while I'm gone."

Ford feels the need to strangle him again.


	8. Chapter 8

"Sit still, I'm almost done."

"Ow!"

"I said to sit still or I'm going to poke you." Stan warns the squirming hillbilly, finishing the last stitch. He leans back and sets the needle on the hood of the car. "I'm going wrap it up so it'll stay clean, alright?"

Fiddleford looks over his arm and nods, letting him wrap the elastic bandage around it, Stan glances up at the other man as he clasps it closed. He's been awfully quiet for a while, aside from the now and then yelps. The odd man touches the bandage and runs his fingers over it.

"It's not tight or anything? Comfortable?" Fiddleford nods, stroking his beard out of nervous habit. "Say something."

Mcgucket looks at him then towards the ground, like he was too scared to speak but after a few moments, he finally spoke up.

"Stanferd," Stan perks up at the sound of his brother's name, seeing Fiddleford grasp at his wounded arm. "He...hurt me, started hitting and wouldn't stop when I told him to."

The broken tone in his voice makes Stan's chest tighten, he reaches out and places his hand on the smaller man's.

"Mcgucket, I am so, so sorry." Stan tries, wanting nothing more than to comfort the other. "My brother, he wasn't in control of his actions. I promise he's probably feeling like crud right now."

"Really?"

"Yeah, so lets get you back to the shack. Soos can keep an eye on ya while I'll go find him. He's probably wanting to apologies to ya."

"His eyes, they were..." He watches him shake his head. "He wasn't...he wasn't..."

"Himself?"

"The demon," Fiddleford looks at him with a terrified expression on his face, muttering as he starts shaking and began to hyperventilate.

"Hey, hey now. Don't freak out!" Stan has him get back into the car making a noise of annoyance when the other fought him. "Once we get back to the shack, you won't have to worry. I'll handle this."

"He'll kill us all!" Fiddleford shouts, struggling against Stan's hold.

"No, no he won't!" Stan shakes his head, trying to calm the old man down. "Hey, settle down or you'll hurt yourself!" Stan gets him into the seat so he can buckle him up and points at him. "Stay put, don't make me ask again. I'm going to pack things up and then we're leaving."

Fiddleford was left, muttering quietly and trembling in the passenger seat. Stan curses under his breath as he gathers his first aid kit.

Damn it, Ford. What did you get yourself into?

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

The small but plump boy retires to his dressing room after a successful long but most glamorous performance, everything went off without a hitch not to mention the news his father told him before the show started. It made him a little giddy but a little concerned too.

Apparently Stan closed up shop for today, nobody knew why but the fact his longtime rival didn't open up the Mystery shack like he always did didn't really sit well for him, he knew the man for years. He wasn't the type who would skip a day of work, that would mean less profit for his business but Stan was still the competition regardless if they both worked together to save the world.

Well, Gideon suppose he could give the shack a call. Maybe pretend like he was a customer complaining or something. The idiotic helping hand would probably be the one to answer anyway, he could just ask about why the attraction wasn't open today.

"No, no!" Gideon shook his head, sitting at his vanity and slams his hands on the table. Why would he care about why Stan didn't open shop? It's not like he cares about the stupid Pines, after all they did to him! All the humiliation?! He sits back his chair and looks at himself in the mirror with a frown, he did care. The Pines were his friends now, weren't they? At least, he considered Dipper and Mabel as his friends but they would also be worried about their great uncle.

Maybe he could keep tabs on the old goat for them, specially Mabel.

Gideon catches himself smiling and rests his head in hand, at least she didn't hate him anymore. If he couldn't have her heart then he's happy to settle for her friendship but he couldn't help the still tender feelings he had for the girl.

The boy lets out a sigh before bringing his attention to his phone and dials up the Mystery Shack's number. There's probably nothing wrong but it couldn't hurt to check in the place, right? He holds it up to his ear, listening to the rings before someone actually picked up.

"Hello?" It was Soos, of course. He could faintly hear Stan going on about something in the background and someone else's voice rambling about what, he couldn't really hear. "Hello, anyone there?"

Just as Gideon was about to answer the handyman, a hand grasps his wrist and pulls the phone away from his head. Gideon turns his head in confusion and sees a face he's never seen before but it was so familiar. The blond takes his phone from his hand, hitting the end call button with Soos still talking on the other side.

"Now just wait a minute!" Gideon stands up on his chair, keep his innocent act up but was angry about the intrusion. "Who are ya and what are you doing in here? Shows over and nobody's allowed back here."

"That's no way to greet a old friend, now is it?" Gideon's face hits the floor wood hard from his chair being kicked out from under him and the stranger kneels in front of him, the false psychic looks up to find him looking down at him with a heart-stopping stare. A chill runs down his spine and scoots back until he was under the make-up table, he didn't know why but something about this guy was terrifyingly familiar and just wants to get away from him. The man referred to himself as an old friend but he never seen him before in his life. The man tilts his head at him. "You don't remember me? Not at all? I've got to say I'm hurt, really."

"What do you want?" Gideon shouts, hoping his father would hear his distressed cries. Last thing he needs is to be left alone with some crazy, obsessed stalker. "Is it photo or a autograph?"

His outburst was met with a amused snicker and watches the stranger shake his head. The blond stood back up, muttering annoyance under his breath.

"Is it money you want then?" This makes the man laugh. What was so funny?! Wait...Gideon's breath catches in his throat, that laugh, he recognized it anywhere. Realization hits him hard and it leaves him trembling with fear. "I-Its you!"

"I-It's me!" Bill mocks. The vanity flew across the room in its own, making the boy underneath jump. "Did ya miss me?"

"You're supposed to be dead, the Pines defeated you!"

"You're supposed to be dead," Bill mocks him again in a shazzelly tone, rolling his eyes before slamming his hands against the wall on both sides of Gideon's head, he leans in and couldn't help but enjoy the look of terror on the young psychic's face.

"What do you want?!"

"I wanna make a deal, short stack."

"I'm not making a deal with you, demon." Gideon shouts at him, "Not after last time!"

"Oh no, I think you'll want to hear this one." Gideon couldn't help the shiver of fear that ran up his spine, he coils back from the blond. "You do as I say, help me and I won't slaughter you and your entire family for your betrayal."

His nails dug into the wall behind him, causing the boy to curl in on himself with a startled cry.

There was a knock on the door so Bill pulls back from the scared boy and turns to look, he could sense it was the father and makes a noise of displeasure.

"Father-" Bill was quick to cover the boy's mouth, he didn't have time for this nonsense.

"Gideon, son? You okay in there?" There was a sound of concern in the man's voice and he tries to open the door but it was locked. "Open the door."

Gideon brings Bill's attention back to him as he mutters against his hand.

"Here's what I want you to do," Bill tells him, pulling his hand away. "When you open the door, you're going to tell your dad that you're going out with a friend. If you even try to pull something, anything and I'll kill him."

Gideon gives a quick nod and gets to his feet, he feels Bill's eyes on him as he makes his way over to the door.

"Gideon, why aren't ya answering? Why is the door locked? Everything okay in there?"

"Everything's fine, father. I-I'm just showing a new friend around my dress room." He tells him, trying to keep a cheerful tone in his voice but couldn't help the stutter that came out.

"I heard a loud noise, are you sure?"

"Oh? Um, that...uh...I was showing him the vanity and clumsy me, I must have knocked it over." Gideon says, looking over to the demon. Bill smiles back at him, his eyes seem to light up as he lie to his father and waves his hand for him to continue. "We actually plan on leaving soon, Bill wanted to catch a late night movie."

"Want me to drive you and your little friend there?" His father offers and he desperately wanted to decline the offer but before the boy had the chance to answer, the door open on it's own and he felt a arm around his shoulders. Bill leans against the smaller boy and smiles up towards the older man.

"That sounds great, Mr. Gleeful. Thanks a lot." Bill replies, patting his arm. Gideon wants to pull away but held his ground and gives his father a quick nod though his mind was screaming for him to run.

"So which show are you boys planning on watching?"

"Something scary I'm sure," Bill answers for them, pulling Gideon along as his father lead them outside. "Wouldn't that be fun?"

"...Yeah." His answer was quiet but he's sure they hear him, his hands curled up into fists at his sides. The poor boy could bring himself to look at the other but knew he must have some sort of amused look on his face. He climbs into the truck to sit next to his father in the middle seat and feels Bill sit on the other side of him. It takes every ounce of his strength to keep himself from shaking as Bill put his arm back around his shoulders, he must be doing it to torture him. Bud starts the car, pulling out onto the road, he changes gears and drives forward.

"Hey Gideon," The one mention almost jumped out of his skin when Bill spoke to him, his eyes is met with creepy grin. One his father didn't noticed since his eyes were focusing on the road. "Did you read the paper this morning? For some reason the Mystery Shack didn't open today, wonder why?"

Gideon's eyes widen which makes his grin widen. Oh no.

"You-" But he was cut off before he could properly ask.

"Maybe the old man running the place had a heart attack, wouldn't that be something?" Bill laughs which he falsely returns with an awkward one of his own. So the demon has been at the shack already, he wondered why. He knew Stanley was alright because he heard him in the background when he was on the phone with Soos but he must have cause some sort of reason for the business to close. Did he attack one of Stan's employees or destroyed the place?

"Mr. Pines is fine. I overheard today after the show that his place just has some faulty wires and he didn't want to risk a fire." Bud informs them, "I'm sure they're fine, it'll just take a few days before they have it up and running again."

"That's good to hear," Bill comments, seeing the movie theatre just a block away. "Well, thanks for the ride. I'll make sure Lil' Gideon here doesn't cause any trouble."

"You two don't have too much fun,"

"We won't, won't we?" Bill asks, getting out when they stopped. Gideon slowly gets out of the truck and looks back towards his father, wanting to beg for help but knew he wouldn't be able to provide much of it. "Lets head inside, I don't want to miss any of the previews."

Bill guides him towards the entrance with his hand on his back, waving from over his shoulder towards the boy's father.

"What do you want from me?" Gideon asks now that they were alone, rubbing his hands together nervously.

"We'll discuss the details later after the movie," Bill tells him, looking over the posters of the movies that were playing. "How do you feel about child eating clowns?"


	9. Chapter 9

Gideon pays attention to his surroundings as they both walk through the underground caverns, from what he could tell, they were somewhere in the abandoned mines rear that creepy old church. He glances at the blond beside him and couldn't help but to wonder if he was just going to kill him down here, the thought was enough to make his chest hurt. No one would ever look down here and his parents would never stop looking, he could imagine the whole town looking for him but no one would ever find his body.

"You're being awfully quiet, what's on your mind?" Bill asks too casually, bringing him out of his thoughts. The boy looks up at him, he wore a smug expression on his face and it irritates him.

"Nothing you would care much about, demon." Gideon looks away from him, he wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing the fear in his eyes.

"That's not how we treat friends," Gideon has to grit his teeth to keep from snapping at him. No way they were friends, to even consider! He huffs at at the thought.

"We are not friends, I'm only here because you threaten me." He mutters, crossing his arms. "Are you going to tell me what you want? I want to get this over with."

"I'll tell you once we get there." Bill pats his back, making the boy's shoulders tense up.

"Get where? Why are we down here?" Gideon looks around the old wore down mine shaft. "It's not like you to need a hideout."

"Only when I have something to hide." Bill stops in his tracks so he stops walking too. Gideon gives him a look, obviously confused at this point. Bill smiles, turning his attention to an entrance a few feet ahead of him and then back to the boy, wanting him to lead the way.

The young psychic hesitates, expecting him to attack once he was ahead of him but slowly makes his way towards the door, slightly curious as to what the demon had to hide.

He stops at the door, mouth slightly opened and shocked. It was Ford, Stan's twin brother, held to a chair by fluorescent chains and unconscious.

The author's head hung forward, his chin resting against his chest as he slept in his chair. It couldn't be comfortable with position he was in but he looked exhausted and roughed up.

The boy fights back the urge to run over and help the poor man, watching Bill circle Ford's chair; his gloved hand on his shoulder as he did. The demon takes off the unconscious man's glasses with one hand and brushes his hair out of his face, only to watch it fall back into place. Bill stares, letting his fingers brush against the man's cheek, over the bruises that seem to have gotten worse and makes a pleased noise. He enjoys seeing the other looking so broken, so beaten, like a child who loves breaking his toys.

Ford makes a distress noise in his sleep so Bill pulls his hand away and places the pair of glasses inside his vest. He turns his attention back to the other, Gideon, who stood a few feet away.

"The author?" Gideon asks, giving the man sympathetic glance, taking in all his bruises and busted lip. "Why is he here?"

"Well, my dear Gideon. If it weren't for him, none of this would have been possible." Bill grins, petting Ford's tousled hair. It wasn't it's usual fluffiness, it was dirty and matted. Stick together from sweat, blood and dirt. This gives the demon a annoyed feeling. "Couldn't leave well enough alone, had to go meddling in things he shouldn't."

"What?" Gideon looks a little taken back, more confused than anything. Bill glides back over to him, wrapping his arm around him.

"But that's not what I brought you here for, no. I brought you here for a favor."

"What kind of favor?" He asks, staring up at him with unease.

"Nothing too extreme, I just need you to breaking into the Mystery Shack and steal a couple of documents."

"Why can't you get them yourself?" Gideon dares ask.

"If I could get them myself then I wouldn't need you." The demon deadpans, he steps away with an annoyed look. "That pestering twin brother of his has his shields up, I can't get through."

"I-I can't," Gideon manages to get out, stepping away from him. He couldn't, not with what was on the line. "Kill me if you must but I won't help you, not again."

The movement was too quick for his eyes to follow, one moment the demons eyes lit up with anger, the next, a set of claws were digging into his throat and forcing him down to the floor. His head hits the ground hard enough to make his head spin, causing him to let out a startled cry.

"You don't have a choice here, brat." Bill reminds him, lifting his head up only to smack against the floor again. Gideon cries out and grabs the demon's wrist. "Don't test me because I'll kill you without a moment of hesitation."

"Get off me!" Words left his mouth in a panic and struggles to get the other's grip to release him, almost close to begging.

"I'll slaughter your whole family in front of you," Bill threatens, his nails piercing the boy's skin. "Can you imagine how long the human body can live without it's skin-"

"Stop!" The demand echoed loudly throughout the room, making the demon pause for a moment before pulling back to look over his shoulder. Ford lean forward in his seat, struggling against the chains that held him, "Bill, leave that boy alone."

"You know I can't do that. A traitors' a traitor, Fordsie." Bill tells him, squeezing on Gideon's throat, earning a squeak as he cut the boy's airway off.. "He's got to pay for his betrayal just like you."

"Please!" The desperate tone in the man's voice makes him smile, turning to see Gideon struggle against his hold, watching his face turn blue. Bill lets up on his grip, he didn't need his delivery boy passing out on him.

"Alright Sixer, as long as you give him the pass code to your lab."

"Why does he need my..." Ford frowns, confused then he shakes his head realizing what Bill wanted. "You want him to steal the banishing spell from the shack."

"And I want him to destroy it since I can't touch it in this damn body, thanks to you!" Bill snaps, eyes flaring in anger as he stood up off the other. His hands curled up into fist, blue flames engulfing them and looks down at Gideon with a threatening glare. "And if he doesn't, I'll make sure he regrets it."

"Don't threaten him," Ford snaps, squinting to focus on him. Bill laughs, flames vanishing and turns on his heel towards him, pulling his glasses out of his vest and waving them.

"What are you going to do about it, IQ?" The demon bounces over to him and slides his glasses over his battered face. "You can't even save yourself."

Ford glares at the taunting demon and then looks away because he was right, he couldn't do anything in these chains. Bill snickers at the man's defeat.

"I'll do it," Both Bill and Ford look up to the boy.

"Gideon, you can't-" Bill quiets him with a hand over his mouth.

"And you'll destroy the spell?" The demon asks, watching the boy nod.

"But what if someone has already found it?" Gideon asks, his eyes flicking over to the author but couldn't bare to look him in the eyes.

"You're a creative boy," Bill chimes, wrapping a arm around Stanford's neck and leans against his shoulder despite the man's noise of complaint. "Figure it out, kill them if you must."

"What? No, I can't-I won't!" Gideon tells him, looking Ford in the eyes now. "I'll do what you want but I won't do that."

"Fine," The demon rolls his eyes and lets out a sigh of irritation. "Whatever it takes to get the job done and then your free to go."

Bill flicks his wrist, wanting him to get a move on but the boy motions to the older man.

"What about him?" Gideon asks, getting to his feet.

"Oh Fordsie?" He pats Ford's shoulder and leans off of him. "He's not going anywhere just yet but you on the other hand? I'd be off if I were you, I'm beginning to lose my patience here, Gleeful." But before he could turn to leave, Bill spoke up once again. "Oh and Gideon." Bill grabs Ford by his hair and pulls his head back. "The pass code, IQ. Unless you want to see the runt's brains covering the wall over there."

"A1BC3" Ford forces through his clench teeth, turning his head away as Bill pats his cheek.

"See how easy it is to share NEEDED INFORMATION?"

Gideon gives one last glance at the Pines twin before rushing off to do what he was asked, the burden burned in his chest but he wasn't left with any other choice. The look on the other man's face makes him run faster, he knew the only reason he gave up the code so easily was because he was to protect him.

He shakes his head in anger, he didn't understand why. Why would Ford give up the way into his lab to keep Bill from killing someone like him? He was enemies with his brother for years, tormented his family and not to mention his hand in the weirdmageddon. Gideon didn't stop running but his pace became a lot slower. It didn't make sense at all. To the Pines, he shouldn't be anyone worth saving.

Rubbing his eyes with his sleeve to wipe away the tears, he could faintly hear Ford shouting farther back in the mines. It didn't sounded like he was in any pain or being tortured, more like he was angrily yelling at Bill for his wrong doing. His hands curl up into fists, he couldn't just do what Bill wanted. Not with the threat of a second weirdmageddon on the way, he couldn't but he also couldn't just walk away from the demon either. His and his family's lives were on the line right now, he had to do something.

The boy frowns as he made his way out of the church, dusting dirt off his suit. The night air was cool on his warm cheeks, he took a deep breath and look back towards the rundown church. Perhaps he could tell someone, get some help but he figured Bill would be watching him from a distance to make sure he wouldn't betray him again. The only place he couldn't follow was the Shack because of the barrier keeping him out.

He knew exactly what he had to do.


	10. Chapter 10

After Soos checks on Mcgucket, making sure he's sound asleep in one of the spare beds up in the attic then closes the door and makes his way back down stairs. Stan was no where to be seen on the ground floor, so he figures the man must be down in that secret lab of his brother's; who he still hasn't seen all day.

The man frowns as he picks the broom back up to sweep the mess the troubled man had caused earlier. Mr. Pines told him that he would talk to his brother, that he was going to find him, make up and bring him home but he didn't.

Was their fight that bad this time?

The sound of the vending machine opening brought the handyman out of his worries and turns to see his employer come out with a look of frustration on his face.

"Are ya alright, Mr. Pines?" Soos asks as his father figure pops his back.

"Just tired and irritated." Stan replies as he makes his way into the kitchen so Soos follows. The elderly man opens the fridge and grabs a can of soda.

"Were you able to get ahold of your brother?" Soos asks, setting the broom aside. Stan toys with the tab of the can, he could tell that the topic made the other upset. "Did...you find him?"

"Not yet," Stan sits at the kitchen table, taking his fez off to bury his hand through his own messy hair. Soos feels the need to comfort his employer but knew the other would just shove him off the moment he tried so Soos settles with sitting across from him instead.

"I know you're not wanting to tell me what happened between you guys yesterday but you know you can talk to me, dude." Soos offers a smile when Stan lifts his head to look at him. "Maybe I could help, I could try talking to him."

"I don't think-" Stan shakes his head and presses his forehead down against his arm. "I found his phone in the woods, middle of nowhere and I know he was hurt when he left. I don't even know if he's okay, what if Bill kills-"

"Bill?" Soos tilts his head to the side at the name mentioned, he sets his hand on his shoulder. "The little triangle dude? He's gone, isn't he? We kicked his butt."

"He has Ford," Stan tells him, sitting back up in his seat and brushing his hair back. "Lord only knows what he's doing to him right now, I don't even know if he's still alive."

"Wait, was that what happened this morning with the broken mirror? Why didn't you tell me, all of us that he was back and had your brother? I could have helped you."

"I didn't want you guys to go through that nightmare again," Stan shrugs his hand off and coughs to clear his throat, opening his drink and taking a swig.

"That doesn't matter, we care about him. Mr. Ford is family and I want to help him too."

"I don't even know where Bill has him," Stan sets his can back down onto the table, he turns to look at his employee. "They could be anywhere."

A creak above catches both the men's attention and they look up towards the ceiling.

"You made sure Mcgucket was asleep, didn't you?" Stan asks quietly, Soos gives him a nod as they listen to the soft foot steps above their heads. "Go grab the bat in the hallway, I'll grab my brass knuckles."

Both men make their way up the stairs, avoiding any squeaking boards. Stan stops at the top of them and glances down the small hallway.

Though it was dark, he could see the small silhouette at the end of the hallway, poking their head through a doorway. Stan squints and feels the bigger man leaning over his shoulder to see too. It couldn't be their friend, Mcgucket. The body type was all wrong, it was smaller and rounder. The crazy old fool had barely no fat on his bones, the man really needs to eat more, Stan makes a mental note in the back of his mind to make the man something to eat in the morning.

Wait, it must be a child with, he thinks, a big...head?

Stan stands up and flicks on the hallway lights. No, not a big head but hair..

"Isn't that the little psychic dude?" Soos asks watching Gideon jump when the lights come on, the boy scrambles to see Stan staring at him with his arms crossed.

"Gideon?" Stan asks, wondering why the boy was here now of all times. Most likely up to no good, it...wouldn't be the first time the little fraud worked with Bill if what the others told him was true. Stan walks over to the boy, his arms falling back down into fists at his sides. "What are you doing here?"

"Stanley..." Gideon hold his hands up in defense, stepping back from the approaching man. Soos follows behind him and could feel the slow building anger radiating off him. "Listen, I'm here for a reason. Let me explain-"

"Start explaining, little man" Stan slips on his brass knuckles to be a little more threatening. "Because after the night I had last night, I'm really not in the mood to be playing around right now."

"Bill is back..." Gideon tells him, backing up until his back press up against the wall. "and he has your brother."

"Tell me something I don't already know, kid." Stan snaps at the kid but stops when he feels someone's hand on his shoulder. He turns to see Soos staring at him with a frown on his face.

"Calm down, man. The little guy looks really banged up." Soos points out, nodding towards his business rival and the handyman was right. Gideon looks terrible, his face was bruised here and there, not to mention the unmissable dark one around his throat that looks bad enough to make the man wince. His usually sleek, coiffured hair was now messy, along with his suit that was covered in dirt from the looks of it.

"Look, I'm trying to help you. You can at least be a little bit grateful since it's my life, including my family's on the line here."

"My brother's life isn't?!"

"Please Stan, lower your voice." Gideon pleads, grabbing his hands with a scared look on his face. He holds a finger up to his lips, wanting the older man to be quiet. "If you value Stanford's safety then you have to be quiet."

"And why is that?" Stan whispers, kneeling down in front of the battered child. Gideon looks over his shoulders as if something would jump out at him at any given moment before turning back to the two men.

"Can we go somewhere else, more private?" More safer.

"He can't get in here, kid. My brother made a forcefield-like shield that keeps little nasties like him out." Stan tells him. "Now spill it."

Gideon sighs, he didn't expect to get any sympathy from the older man and he supposes he didn't deserve it.

"Bill sent me here, he wants something in your brother's lab." Gideon explains, leaning against the hallway wall and sits down. He pulls his knees up to his chest and rests his chin on them, his body aches at the movement. "He told me they were documents but the author said it was a spell."

"A spell?" Stan scratches his head at the boy's words, wondering which spell of his brother's that he was referring to. Gideon nods.

"A banishing spell is what your brother called it," He explains.

"Banishing spell, huh? I guess Ford's already thought of a way to get rid of that little pest and if Bill wants it, it must work." Stan rubs his chin at the thought but where? He's searched that lab over, he didn't find anything-wait. Those papers with the chicken scratch all over it on his brother's desk, the ones that where scattered all about the floor last night? "But that doesn't explain why we have to be quite?"

"Though he's not able to get through the barrier, I don't want to chance him hearing us speaking. If he hears me telling you this, I don't know what he might do. He's already told me I'll regret failing him, that he'll kill my mother and father." Gideon rubs his arms to try and comfort his light shivering, not from the cold but paranoia. "On the way here, I could feel like someone was watching me, I know he has eyes on the Shack right now. I can feel it.." His hands reach up and grabs onto his white messy hair and his fingers tighten into the strands. "I know I can't just give him what he wants but I can't keep him waiting or he'll hurt my family. I don't know what else to do!"

Stan frowns and he meets Soos's gaze before patting the boy's shoulder, trying to comfort him before he started crying.

"Calm down, Gleeful. We'll figure something out." The man tries but feels like his attempts weren't helping much. "Perhaps we could call your folks and have them leave town? He's should still not able to leave Gravity Falls from the natural barrier around it."

"What if he finds out-!" Stan covers his mouth to keep him from shouting in case the boy was right about the demon watching the place and makes him get back onto his feet.

"Gideon, You're going to have to calm down. You freaking out isn't going to help us, I'm going to need you relax if we're going to figure this out." Stan gets back onto his feet and places his hand on the child's back, having him walk towards the stairs. "Let's get you something to drink while you gather your wits and after we take care of those cuts and bruises of yours, we'll come up with something."


	11. Chapter 11

Soos slips a mug of hot cocoa in front of the quiet child, watching the boy nervously rubs his knuckles as the big man takes his seat besides him.

Gideon barely spoke a word since they came back downstairs, Soos supposes he's still having his mini panic attack. He gives the kid his space so he can breathe and looks towards the doorway that Stan had gone through a few moments ago, hoping the conman would come back soon. He wasn't quite sure how to comfort the other. What if he messes up and makes things worse?

Soos shakes his shoulders and figures it couldn't hurt to try.

"Um...are you sure you don't want us to patch you up, lil' dude?" The handyman tries only to have Gideon head his head quickly.

"He'll know you helped me." Soos frowns and tries pushing the mug closer to him, not wanting to risk him having another break down.

"Drink, it'll help you feel better."

"Drinking hot chocolate isn't going to help me feel better." Gideon mutters, staring into the cup in front of him.

"It always helped Mabel feel better when she was feeling down." Soos offers, noticing him lifting his head at the mention of the girl's name. "We still had some left over from their visit, I'm sure she wouldn't mind if you had some."

"Mabel always was a sweet gal, still is..." Gideon says softly, picking up the mug and holding it close. "Even after all I've done, she gave me her email address so we could message each other. I don't deserve it."

Gideon's fingers grip the mug tighter and mentally kicks himself, he didn't mean for that last part to slip out.

"You two must message each other all the time!" Soos smiles as if he hadn't hear his last bit of self loathing. Gideon sighs thankfully.

"We don't actually," Gideon lifts his mug to blow on the hot beverage, he could feel Soos's eyes on him, wanting him to explain why not. "I've tried a few times but never knew exactly what to send her, so I've always back out of the message."

"Maybe you could ask her how she's doing, like her school year is or if she's made any new friends. Start off with little things, dude." Soos explains as he takes a sip, Gideon feels himself relax a bit from the taste. It was sweet, really sweet, just like Mabel likes her drinks. Anything really; her sweet tooth could probably put a normal person into a sugar coma.

"Maybe I should, I do miss her silliness." Gideon finds himself saying but he couldn't bring himself to smile, not with what's going on right now. If he didn't deal with the current situation right, he may never get the chance to talk or even see her again. He flicks the abandoned Fez left on the table.

Gideon hears footsteps behind him and turns to see Stan again, holding a folder in his hands.

Those must be what Bill's after.

"I see you managed to get him to calm down," Stan says, sitting down across from them and places the folder down on the table in front of him. He flips through it and rests his chin in the palm of his hand, his eyes flick up towards Gideon. "I don't suppose you could figure this mess out, could you?"

"I could take a look at them," Gideon replies as Stan slides the folder over to him, he flips through each page and goes over them. He knew what some of the signals meant and some of the incantations were familiar, Gideon takes the pages out and places them over the table to get a better view of all of them. He doesn't believe he's seen anything like this spell in the journal he had before. "Do you remember if your brother have anything like this in any of his other journals?"

"No, I've already looked."

"Already looked?" Gideon lifts his head and looks at the other with utter confusion. "All the journals were destroyed, there's no way you could have-"

"Listen kid, I'm not stupid." Stan leans back in his seat and crosses his arms like he was insulted. "I have copies made."

"Copies?" There's copies?!

"And don't even think about it, little man." The older man warns, leaning over the table and pointing at him. "Those only belong to my brother."

"I didn't say anything-"

"Don't forget I know you, twerp." The elder men smirks and sits back in his chair. "But I'm serious, if you even think about trying to swipe those. I'll kick your little, tiny-"

"Why don't we copy these to give to Bill?" Soos interrupts him, waving his hand over the pages. "So that way we spare some more time to figure this out and call Gideon's parents and have them get to safety."

"That's...actually a smart idea, Soos." Stan tilts his head to the side, looking a little taken back by the handyman. "But yeah, I can copy these and you can give them to..."

Stan looks over and sees the fright flash over the boy's face, his own face grows grim. That would mean Gideon would have to meet up with the demon again and they all knew from personal experience that Bill always had some sort of twist in his deals, he couldn't blame the kid for being scared.

"Listen kid," Stan says, "You told me earlier that Bill had my brother, right?"

"Yes."

"So you know where he's has Ford?" He asks seriously, Stan's anxiety building up with the long waited question but feels relief when he sees the boy nod.. "Is he alright?"

"Bill has him down in those old abandoned mines, he's...a bit roughed up but I believe he's okay." Gideon tells him, telling him about all the injuries he saw from where he was. "Ford was shouting at him when I left, kind of like a parent lecturing a child so I don't think he's hurt too bad."

"Lecturing?" Soos questions.

"For...attacking me," Gideon rubs the sore spot where Bill was slamming his head against the ground. "If it weren't for your brother, I would probably be dead right now. I told Bill I wouldn't help him, he didn't take too well to that."

"So they're down in those old mines," Stan rubs his chin, pondering. It would make sense, he was close by the mines when he found Mcgucket and the place is closed off from the public. It would be the perfect place to hide. "Are you suppose to meet him there?"

"I don't really know," The boy goes back to messing with the cup, "I suppose so but I don't know if he'll really let me go even if I give him what he wants. He's always up to something, it can't be this easy."

"You think he won't keep his end of the deal?" Stan gathers all the pages off the table and gets back on his feet.

"I'm sure he will but there's always a twist, I don't trust him." Gideon takes a last sip of his drink before pushing the mug away. "What if we don't figure this out? What if he figures out we've made copies?"

"We'll deal with it if it resorts to that, we'll figure out something. Just calm your horses, kid." Stan twists his pinkie in his ear in a gesture of annoyance. "Until then, we're just going to have to wing it."

"Let's...just get these copied already," Gideon stands up from his seat and shakes his head stressfully. "I feel like I've already been here too long."

"Right," Stan mumbles, leaving them to make copies of his brother's spell. His hands grip the folder tightly and he lets out a heavy breath, he hopes Ford's doing alright.

Hang in there until I can get to you, Stanford.


	12. Chapter 12

"What are you doing down on the ground there, Fordsie?" Bill leans down over the the man, his hands on his hips and a smile on his face. He touches the man's cheek with the tip of his shoe and watches Ford turn his head away from him. "That can't be really comfortable, how long have you been down there?"

Ford must have tried to escape while he was gone and only managed to topple his chair onto it's side. Bill can hear him breathing angrily out his nose and could see him gritting his teeth.

"Come on, up we go." Bill lifts him up off the ground to having him sitting up properly, dusting the dirt off his clothes and face. "Can't have my favorite human meat-sack all dirty, now can I?"

"You're not going to get away with this," Ford mutters quietly as he's being cleaned off, he can't being himself to look at Bill. "Your plan isn't going to work."

"I'm going to have to disagree with you there, point-dexter." Bill replies as he finishes brushing the dirt off his shoulder and pats them. "Everything's going according to it so far."

"You really don't think Stan won't catch that kid trying to break into my lab?"

"Oh no, I'm sure he will." Bill pulls his hands away and put them behind his back, the blonde snickers. "I'm counting on it, after all."

"W...what?" Anger slips from Ford's face and is replaced by confusion.

"I bet Gideon is spilling everything to Stanley as we speak." Bill snaps his fingers with a cheerful look that leaves Ford uneasy.

"You're...counting on him to betray you again?" Ford asks, wondering what the demon could gain from that. Bill nods. "But why?"

"Because knowing that little brat and your brother's selfless need to save his brother, Gideon's probably already told him where we are." Bill lets out a sigh and swings his arms out in front of him, walking around Ford to set his hands on his shoulders again, rubbing them. He feels the man's shoulders tense up under his touch but continues to rub them snyway and leans down so his lips were close to Ford's ear. "And knowing Stanley, he's going to leave the safety of the shack to come for you."

That's what he's after, not the spell he sent the boy for. Ford curls his fingers up into fists and grinds his teeth angrily, he was after his brother.

"You sick fuc-"

"Not as sick as you wanting your brother to stick his tongue down your throat," Bill laughs at him, Ford turns his head to look at him with wide eyes. "Don't think I didn't notice that little fantasy floating around when I was inside your mind earlier?"

"I-If you wanted to kill my brother, then why didn't you back in the shack when you had the chance?! Ford shouts back at him, changing the subject, his face turning red and he starts to struggle once again. "This isn't right! You told me if I gave you want you wanted then you would leave him alone!"

"If I had killed him then, you wouldn't have given me the spell I needed for this new form." Bill chuckles at him, watching tears of frustration building up in the man's eyes.

"Don't touch him, hurt Stanley and I'll kill you! I swear!" Ford snaps, lashing out at him with that little he could. "Stay away from my brother!"

Bill raises a brow at the sudden outburst and pulls his hands away, whistling at the man's nerve to shout at him like that as he ruffles up Ford's dirty hair and walks around him once again.

"Those are some bold words, Ford." Bill grabs a fistful of hair and yanks his head back, causing some of the stitches in his hairline to snap apart; Ford gasps through clench teeth as he's force to look at the blonde. "It's really too bad that you're not in any position to back them up."

"Fuck you, Cipher." Ford spits out through his teeth, his eyes glaring back at him with so much anger and hatred. Bill never heard Ford say a word like that before, cussing wasn't really in the man's vocabulary; it didn't really suit Ford to swear at all. It sound wrong for something so foul to leave his lips, Bill didn't like it at all.

"As tempting as that sounds," Bill lets go and pulls his hands behind his back again, turning to leave. "I've got things I need to tend to, I'm expecting guests, after all."

"Bill!" The demon stops at the unexpectedly loud volume his name was called and looks back the bounded man with a surprised look on his own face. "Please, don't hurt my family. If it's revenge you want then take it out on me. Just leave them out of this."

"It's you I want, right? But here's the thing, Fordsie. As much as I enjoy hearing you beg, they had just as much hand in my downfall as you." Bill grits his own teeth and looks away from the pleading man again, memories from that day fills his head and he lets out a low growl. "It wouldn't be fair to leave them out of all the fun."

"I was the one who erased Stan's memories with you in them," Ford tells him, desperately trying to get through to him. "That was me! I'm the one who wiped you out of existence! It was me!"

"Didn't do a very good job from the looks of it." Bill taunts and he walks out, leaving the author all alone, hearing him beg and call out for him to spear his family and though Bill did enjoying the man's misery, he also feels another emotion he wasn't quite familiar with.

The blonde stops in the middle of the pathway and reaches up to touch his chest, it's probably just some side effect of this new body of his but he didn't like this feeling. It made his chest hurt.

"Just walk it off, Cipher." The demon shakes his head and lets his hand fall back down to his side. "You've got things that need to be done."

Back at the shack, Stan finishes copying the last page of the spell and places them away from the others. He sets them aside and picks up the originals to gives to the boy standing a few feet away from him.

"I suppose it would be best to give the real ones to him," Stan suggests, turning off the copier. "That way it seems more authentic."

Gideon nods in agreement and takes them from the older man.

"...Thank you." He says softly, too quiet for Stan to hear him so the elderly man turns to him with a question look.

"What?"

"For helping me and my family," He speaks up for him, holding the folder closer. "Thank you for helping me and sending Soos to take my parents to safety.."

"Don't mention it." Stan mutters in reply, looking through the copies to make sure they all printed out properly. Gideon shuffles on his feet, his nerves getting the best of him and he feels himself shaking nervously. Stan looks up, noticing this and feels himself let out a breath, setting the folder aside. "Look kid, I'm not letting you go by yourself."

"What?" Gideon looks back up to the man, seeing Stan take a seat on a crate.

"Bill's dangerous and it would be cruel of me to send you alone, besides he's got my brother." He explains, "It would be best for both of us if we both went, you could distract him while I get my brother. Ford's probably going to have to help us with this anyway." Stan taps the folder besides him, "I'm not a expert in the paranormal and I'm not sure we know anyone else who is, not as experienced like my brother."

"Nobody?" Gideon asks with a frown, feeling dread.

"EXPERT IN THE PARANORMAL, YOU SAY?" Both of them almost jump out their skins and turn to see the small scrawny man standing in the doorway, scratching his head.

"Old man, Mcgucket?" Stan could have sworn he asked Soos to lock the old man inside the bedroom so he couldn't get out and wander about. "What are you doing up?"

"I heard a ruckus," Fiddleford walks over to them and tilts his head to the side. "Why do ya both have that look? Somethin' wrong?"

"Wait..." Stan sits up straight and pulls out the copies, calling the man over. "You used to work with my brother, do you know what any of these mean?"

Fiddleford takes a look at them and messes with the bandage on his arm, his tongue sticking out in thought; He looks up at Stan and nods.

"It's somethin' yer old Ford used to do all the time in his work." He tells them, moving the pages around in a certain order, lining them up and pulls his hands away to reveal a sacred ritual. "Used to hide some in secret patterns like a puzzle."

Both Stan and Gideon gawk at the sigil before looking back at the crazy old man, watching him give themgoofily grin.

"So you're not so crazy after all, are ya old timer?" Gideon comments, taking out his phone to take a picture of it. "This is what we need to get rid of that demon. From the looks of it, someone just needs to paint this symbol on themselves and say this chant."

"How do they expect anyone to read this?" Stan squints at the words.

"It's Latin, Stanley. It's a dead a language."

"Well, no wonder it's dead! How did they expect anyone to understand this gibberish!?" Stan scratches his chin, looking over the chant and tries to pronounce some of the words. Butchering them in the process.

"I can so I'll do the chant but since you're stronger than me, I'm going to need you to put this sigil on yourself somewhere and try to restrain Bill."

"You want me to restrain a demon?" Stan replies with a raised brow and scoffs at the thought.

"If you want to save your brother then yes, I do." Gideon replies back, walking over to a table in the far off corner. He picks up a sharpie and turns back to him. "This will have to do."

"So you want me to sneak up on Bill while you distract him or something?" Stan asks as the boy walks back over with the permanent marker.

"No, he'll notice you." Gideon tells him, opening the sharpie and brings it up to the exposed skin of his collarbone. "We're going to have to come up with someway to trap him, something like a devil's trap."

"A...what?"

"A devil's trap, it's old magic but it should work." He tells him, shaking his shoulder. "Something I came across when I did some of my own research after the weirdmageddon."

"And you're sure it'll work?" Stan questions as the boy finishes the symbol on him.

"I'm positive it will but never done one myself," Gideon answers truthfully, pulling the picture of it up on his phone and shows it to him. The symbol has a lot of details in it, that's for sure. "It's a symbol that used to be used in the 17th century to trap demons, kind of like a ring of salt but with a little more strength to it, I suppose."

"It's gotta be big enough to trap him and that's going to take some time to get done." Stan points out, looking over it again and looks up at the boy. "You're going to have to stall him until I get this done, do you think you could do that?"

"I'll try my best." Gideon gives him a determined nod.

"Then it looks like we've got ourselves a plan, kiddo." Stan pats his rival's back and stands up to pop his own. "But I'm going to need your phone for that picture, do ya mind?"

"Um, yeah. Sure." Gideon hands him the device. "But don't be going through my photos, got me?"

"I swear, if you have pictures of my great niece-"

"I don't!" Gideon defends himself, shaking his head. He wasn't like that, that's creepy! But he didn't want Stan to see all the screenshots of pages online of advice on how to talk to a girl or how to get a girl to consider you as their friend. The thought of Stan, his greatest rival but also the great uncle of the girl he's wanting to talk to seeing those, it was enough to make turn his face red!

"Then we should be set to go." Stan tells him, picking up the folder and handing it back to Gideon. "you go on ahead and I'll follow behind ya and you." Stan turns and points at the other. "You stay out and don't burn my house down."

"What are we talking about again?" Mcgucket tilts his head to the side again and rubs his beard. Stan rubs his eyes with a groan, hopefully Soos will get back soon enough to watch the man.


	13. Chapter 13

Gideon stands in front of the old abandoned church, clutching the folder close to his chest and holds his breath. Though there was no signs of anyone being there, he could still feel eyes watching him and couldn't help but to shiver.

The thought of Bill watching his every move makes him feel extremely nervous but the fact that he has to distract the deity long enough for Stan to slip by them and down into the mines was even worse. Gideon has literally no idea how he's suppose to keep him distracted, perhaps he could lore the lunatic away? No, how could he get Bill to follow him?

He could always have Bill chase after him? Gideon mutters under his breath and shakes his head at the idea. That wouldn't end very well for him but he couldn't just stand here, he has to come up with something to keep Bill busy.

"Lost in thought there, pipsqueak?" Gideon jumps with a startle noise escaping his throat and almost drops the folder in his hands, turning his head to see Bill leaning over him. Bill doubles over and laughs, patting Gideon's back causing the boy to lean away from the blonde's touch. "I didn't mean to cause you to almost jump out of your SKIN."

Gideon quickly regains his composure and turns toward him.

"I got what you wanted, demon." Gideon holds up the folder and opens it to show him the contents inside, flipping through the pages. "Now will you leave me and my family alone?"

"Burn it." Bill straightens his posture and crosses his arms, pointing at the item mentioned.

"With what exactly?" Gideon questions, looking around himself. "I don't have anything to get a fire going, you're the one who can conjure flames at will here."

That's it, perhaps he could just keep him talking. Bill loves to hear himself talk.

"I can't touch it, remember?" Bill points to the side of his own head before knocking on it with a roll of his eyes. "Or did your SIMPLE-MINDED brain forget that minor detail?"

"Then how am I supposed to burn it?" Gideon asks, seeing Stan watching them from further away and sees he's already making his way into the church.

"You're a psychic, boy. You tell me." Bill smirks, taking a jab at his profession and flicks his ear. Gideon cups his ear and gives him a stern look and turns towards the path he took before to get here.

"I...passed some dead grass and dry wood on my way here," Gideon says, shaking his shoulders. "I can gather some and we can make a small fire out of that."

"Lead the way then," Bill motions for him to walk ahead so the boy tensely walks pass him and senses the other following right behind him. Gideon looks over his shoulder to see Bill watching him curiously with his arms behind his back.

So he didn't notice Stan, that's good. Gideon feels some relief but not entirely, not with Bill so close to him. Keep him talking, he reminds himself. Talk about something, anything.

"So...Bill," Gideon speaks up, clearing his throat and brings up the first thing that comes to mind. "What do you plan on doing with Stanford? If you wanted him dead, you would've killed him by now."

"Oh, Old Fordsie?" Bill smiles and walks up beside the boy now, shaking his shoulders. "As for killing him, there's things far worse than death and for now he's just a toy for me to play with until I can find some use for him."

"So you're not going to kill him..." Gideon says, mostly to himself as he stops in front of the patches long dried, dead grass.

He couldn't lie, he really felt for any poor soul Bill deemed good enough to be his suitable toy. Gideon can still remember having to wear that hideous, humiliating costume and forced to dance inside the cramped steel cage for Bill's amusement. He still has nightmares about his time in the fearamid, that god-awful outfit and the torture he was forced to witness.

Poor Stanford, Gideon thinks as he pulls up brush and picks up scattered wood; glances back to see Bill rolling a twig back and forth with his foot. The man has went through so much pain and suffering, so did his entire family, the entire town, everyone has. He shoves everything aside and gets back up into his own feet, smacking the dirt off his pants.

"That should be enough for a small fire," Gideon says, turning to Bill. "Could you start it?"

"No problem, kid!" Bill flicks his wrist and blue flames emits from his hand, this makes Gideon take a step back as he got closer. Bill kneels down to start the fire, the light reflecting off his face, showing off his bronze, sun-kissed skin and blonde locks. Most of all, his golden eyes that seem to glow as he watches the flames flicker and began to kindle, slowly growing into a small fire. Bill stands back up and extinguishes the flames at his fingertips before turning his attention back to him. "How's that for a fire?"

"It'll work," Gideon mutters, pulling out the spell and looking over it with a bitter frown. Destroying anything from the author didn't sit well with him, Ford worked so hard on his research and only to have it burned. He looks over the pages once more before pulling them out and looking back at Bill. "Do you really have to-"

"Yes, now get rid of it before I lose my patience." Bill crosses his arms and taps his finger against his arm. Gideon glances at the pages one last time before putting them one at a time into the fire, watching the flames eat away at the pages until they turn into ashes. "See, that wasn't so hard, now was it?"

"Why are you so cruel to Stanford?" Gideon asks without really meaning to, he wants to bite his tongue but turns to the blonde anyway. "He doesn't deserve this."

"Because he's mine to do whatever I want with and it's fun." Bill smiles, poking at the pages with a long stick. The possessiveness in his voice concerns the boy but doesn't say anything, just looks away and hopes Stan find Ford soon.

Gideon lets out startled yelp when a hand grabs him by his hair and yanks his head back, those eyes staring down at him intensely. His own widen in confused fear and reaches up to grab Bill's hand but his fingers tighten their hold, yanking on strands of hair, bringing tears to his eyes.

"What are you doing?!" Gideon asks frantically, "I-I gave you what you wanted, you told me you wouldn't kill me if I gave you the spell!"

"Aw, Gideon. I'm not going to kill you." Bill pulls him backwards by his hair towards the fire that seem to have gotten bigger. Gideon struggles, digging his heels into the dirt and watches the lunatic's smile widen as the boy began to panic, feeling the fire against his back. "But this might hurt a little."

"No, please!" Gideon desperately screams for mercy, feeling the fire burn away the back of his jacket but the heat cuts off his begging and pain licks up his spine as flames scolds his skin. He lets out a piercing scream and suddenly unable to think. The boy writhes in agony, feeling the pain seep deep into his back. His skin stinging and could smell it, feeling the urge to vomit.

Bill tugs him away from the fire and tosses him to the ground on his chest, watching him curl up into his side, weeping with his face in the dirt. Gideon doesn't ask why he did it, unable to even speak with the shock coursing through his body. Bill kneels and waves his hand in front of his face but Gideon couldn't really focus on anything else besides the searing pain and trying to breathe.

"You humans think you're slick, don't ya?" Bill laughs, picking up a twig and twiddling it in between his fingers before snapping it and flicking it into Gideon's disheveled hair. The boy flinches when he stands back up, adjusting his suit and clicks his pierced tongue against his teeth. "But you DID bring me what I wanted so I suppose you're free to go, you won't have to worry about me tormenting you or your family ever again so have that to remember 'lil' old me' by."

Bill laughs and turns from him, waving back at him from over his shoulder. Gideon turns his head and watches in dread as the blonde begun walking back to the church. He's sure Stan hasn't had enough time to find his brother and have to symbol done so he forces himself to sit up and shouts after him.

"You pathetic excuse of a cryptid! You couldn't even come back on your own, had to have help from a human!" Gideon shouts, hoping to stall him a little while longer. Bill stops and looks back at him with a raised brow. "You couldn't even get that new body without the author, everything you've accomplished so far was because of a human, you're nothing on your own!"

"Mouthy all of the sudden, aren't we?" Bill asks amusingly, watching Gideon trying to hide the pain from his face. "Go home and lick your wounds, Gleeful.. You're not useful to me anymore."

Gideon watches him turn on his heel, laughing as he went and feels a knot growing in his throat. Hopefully the old man had enough time to find his brother and get the trap done. He whines as he touches his shoulder, even the slightest touch sends painful shocks down his scorched back and lays back down onto his side. He couldn't bring himself to get up just yet, breathing heavily in sharp gasps and wipes the tears from his eyes.

Through hyperventilating breaths, he tells himself that he has to get up, that Stan still needs him to do the incantation but his body was still in shock and wouldn't cooperate. Gideon manages to shallow the lump in his throat but passes out from the pain.


	14. Chapter 14

Ford faintly hears his name being called but it sounds so far away, his eyes twitch but he doesn't open them, not wanting those warm caressing touches on his face to stop just yet.

"Bro, sixer. You've got to wake up, man. I'm really needing your help here." He hears again, it sounds so familiar and Ford leans against those comforting hands with a low groan. "Ford? Stanford, open your eyes for me, come on."

"Stan...ley?" Ford asks with a hoarse voice and barely able to open his eyes, his sight is still fuzzy even with glasses on. The old man squints at him and turns his head away, feeling his heart ache in his chest. "Bill, this isn't funny."

"What?" Stan leans down to get a better look at his brother, he was refusing to meet his eyes or even look at him. "Ford, what's wrong? It's me, it's Stan."

"You're not real," Ford growls, moving his face from his brother's hand and looks towards the floor, watching him from the corner of his eye. "Just another trick."

"Jeez, what has he done to you?" Stan asks, reaching up and letting his thumb brush against the broken stitches along his hairline. Ford turns his head away again, muttering that he was fine but gets a huff in return. "Can you move just fine? Does anything feel broken?"

"I ache just about everywhere," Ford replies, opening his eyes to look at his brother. He seems real enough but he couldn't be, Stan has no idea where he was. "How did you find me?"

"Gideon told me where you were after trying to steal that spell of yours out of your lab."

"It's really you." Ford smiles but then it slips from his face, looking around the room "Stan, where's Bill? Do you know where he is?!"

"Bill? Gideon is stalling him while I came to rescued you." Stan tells him, confused by his brother's sudden urgent tone in his tone. "Why?"

"It's a trap, you've got to get back to the shack!" Ford leans up in his seat, panic spreading over his face.

"I'm not leaving without you, numbskull." Stan tells him, messing with the glowing blue chains that held his brother to his seat. He runs his fingers over the blue collar around Ford's throat and feels that it's not tight on him, so that good. Ford leans his head back and closes his sore eyes again.

"It's useless, I've already tried getting out of these," Feeling his brother's rough fingers grazing against his neck and shallows the lump in his throat.

"You're tied to a chair," Stan comments, trying to pull the collar open but it wouldn't budge. "You can't do much of anything."

"Stan, you gotta get out-"

"No, you listen." Stan snaps at him, Ford opens his eyes to see him pointing at his face and giving him a firm stare. "I came here to get you and I'm not leaving unless you're coming with me, got it?"

"That's what Bill planned!" Ford shouts back at him, "It was never about the ritual, he was using me to lore you here, outside the shack's protective shields. He's going to kill you, don't you understand?!"

"So he looks different now, big deal." He rolls his eyes and stands back up, debating if he could perhaps carry the man back if he needed to, probably not his best idea with his bad back and all. "He doesn't scare me, he's not coming in between us again."

"That's the thing with you Pines twins," Both men jump and Stan turns to see the blonde standing in the doorframe, the creature shakes his head amusingly. "Always willing to risk everything for your STUPID siblings. You're just as bad as the kids, it's hilarious!"

Stan quickly slips on his brass knuckles and arms himself to fight if he needs to, putting himself between Bill and his brother.

"But I'm mean, good idea with Gideon distracting me though. I almost didn't notice you slip by!" Bill laughs and comes into the room, Stan grits his teeth. "Clever but your plan is pointless without the spell, it's about as crispy as the boy is right now!"

"What?" Stan lowers his fists and his anger is replace is a cold feeling in his chest, what Ford had warned him about earlier finally dawns on him. Bill had expected him to come with Gideon, he knew the boy was going to help them and betray him again. "Where's Gideon?!"

"Still outside most likely," Bill shakes his shoulders, playing with nails like the topic of the boy bores him. "Still unconscious probably, how am I supposed to know?"

"What did you do to him?!" Stan digs his nails into the palms of his hands from clenching his fists so hard, his anger flares.

Whatever the monster did to him, it was all his fault. Gideon was scared and he had him come back out here anyway to help them, he was the one who told the kid that everything would be fine.

"I told him I wouldn't kill him and I didn't," Bill points out, flicking his wrist and flames lick at his fingers but stops walking for a moment, like he senses something and he looks up. Stan's stomach drop when he sees demon grin and flicks his yellows eyes back down to him, pointing up. "Did you really...? Did you really believe I would fall for that?!"

The demon starts laughing hysterically at him and Ford looks up to see that there was a symbol of some sort painted to the ceiling, he didn't really recognized it but Stan must have put it there for a reason before he woke up.

"Stan..." Ford wants to reach out and touch his brother, to ask or to comfort him but all he can do is watch his brother shake with anger.

"I ought to beat you to bloodily pulp, you freaking lunatic!" Stan shouts at him, his face turning red from his anger and grips his brass knuckles tighter.

"Please do try, Fez." The blonde smirks, his eyes lit up eagerly.

"Stan, don't be stupid! He's too dangerous to fight by yourself!" Ford snaps at his brother angrily, chains rattling.

"Have any better ideas, genius?" Stan looks back at him and could see the fear clear as day on his brother's face.

"I told you to run!"

"And I told you, I wasn't going to leave you so shut yer trap!" Stan turns away from him to look at Bill, who was still watching them.

"You're going to get yourself killed, you idiot!" Stan feels Ford kick his legs in frustration but he ignores Ford's lecture to stay focus on those eyes staring at him intensely. "You should have listened-"

"Shut up," Stan tells him, trying to think, to come up with anything sort of plan as Bill walks around his handiwork. The blonde seems to be avoiding it so maybe if he could just knock him inside the circle, he could trap the demon long enough to preform the banishing spell himself. He could just have Ford say the Latin part.

"You really should have learned to listen to your brother if you knew what was good for you," Bill shakes his shoulders, stopping a few feet from the two. "I mean he went through all this trouble to help and protect you, you still came rushing to your death. So ungrateful, Stanley. After all he's done for you too."

"Bill." Ford warns the blonde through clenched teeth, Stan turns and looks at his brother with questioning eyes. All he's done for him? What has he done for him and why does Ford not want him to know?

"What are you talking about?" Stan asks, watching the panic spread across his brother's face as he turns to look at Bill again. "What did he do?"

"You mean to tell me, you have no idea why I'm here or how I came back?" Bill raises a brow and then laughs it off like a joke. "Are you really that stupid? I was in your head this entire time since the weirdmageddon and you didn't think your brother knew about it? How much he hated it?"

"What...?" Stan's eyes grow wide and he looks at his brother again, "You knew and didn't tell me?"

"I didn't want to scare you, you were already having enough problems with memory loss." Ford tells him, looking everywhere but at him and bites his lip nervously. "I just trying to get him out, I didn't plan for this to happen. I don't know what went wrong, I-"

"Screwed up, sixer." Bill interrupts, vanishing from Stan's line of sight and hears him reappear behind him. He turns around and sees the blonde looping a arm casually around his brother's shoulders, enjoying the discomfort on his face. "Should have just left me inside that noggin of your twin's. Would have been better for everyone if you hadn't went meddling in things again but of course, you're you. You can't help it, can't you IQ?"

"Get off of him!" Stan swings his fist at him, only to miss and hit nothing but air. The man almost trips over his own feet and onto Ford when a hand grips him by the collar of his jacket and hauls him backwards and lands onto his bad back.

"And what are you going to do about it if I don't?" Bill laughs, standing in between them now. Ford yanks against his restraints again, watching Bill's hands light up again in blue flames and feels his heart being rapidly against his chest. He kicks out his feet, hoping to kick him like he done Stan before, anything to shift Bill's attention back onto him but he settles with begging instead.

"Don't! Don't hurt him, please!" Bill looks back at him from over his shoulder and gives him a soft smile.

"Don't worry, Fordsie. Just for you, I won't." Bill turns back to Stan as the other twin got onto one knee and widens his eyes in excitement, flames still crawling up his arms. "I'll make it quick, I promise he won't feel a thing."

"I'll say yes or whatever you want me to! If it's my knowledge or mind you want, you can have it!" Ford pleads with a look of desperation, Stan looks at his brother like he's crazy.

"Ford, you can't do that-"

"I'm trying to save your life!" Ford snaps at him, wanting him to be quiet but of course, his brother refuses to do so.

"You're being stupid is what you're doing." Stan argues and he gets back onto his feet, staring Bill down with the urge to pummel that smile off his face but also to slap some common sense into his brother for spouting nonsense. "You can't just give this monster permission into your head, ya idiot!"

It's too dangerous and not worth risking hundreds of lives for just one...

Bill watches the two bicker back and forth for a few moments, and though he finds it hilarious, he didn't want to just listen to them both fight all night. The blonde snaps his fingers and cuts Ford off in mid-sentence, hearing him let out a startled shout and watching him jolt back in his seat. His body starts shaking, shoulders twitching and his breath hitching in his throat.

Bill grins at the sight but before he could really enjoy the way the man trembles at the aftershocks, a fist collides with the side of his face and has him stumble a little. Bill manages to dodge the second one but just barely and jumps behind Ford's chair, seeing the look of rage on Stan's face.

"Let him go or I swear, I'll rip you a new one." Stan warns him through his teeth. Bill was actually thrown off by the sudden strike to the face and even from a human, it hurt quite a lot. Bill decides he'd rather not be hit by the man again as he rubs the soreness in his jaw and collects himself again before wrapping his arms around Ford's neck and resting his chin on top of his hair in a taunting way. Bill can practically feel the loathing towards him radiating off of the man and leans his cheek against his brother's head to anger him even further.

"Lash out again and your brother here will have to face the consequences," Bill warns him, his chipper tone turning serious though he keeps the smile on his face. He runs his hands up into his hair and grabs his head, holding Ford's up . "His neck would snap easily, like a twig and I would like to avoid that and I think you would too."

Regardless of wanting to punch the other's face in, Stan forces himself to take a deep breath and shallows his anger. He looks at Ford and sees he's struggling to clear his head, blinking his eyes to focus them again.

"You see, both of you can be tearing at each other's throats but once one of you are in danger, you're both willing to risk your own lives for the other.." Bill pats the side of the man's head and pulls away, letting his head fall again, his hand still lingering on his shaking shoulder. Ford lifts his head on his own with a shaky breath and slightly jumps when he feels his restraints disappear off his body. Ford rest his hands in his lap and rubs his sore wrists, giving him a question glare. "You both really do CARE for each other, a lot, don't you?"

"What's your point, Bill?" Ford asks him demandingly but weakly and clears his sore throat, Bill meets his eyes and gives him a mischievous smirk.

"You know this new form makes me stronger but did you ever stop to wonder what other perks that came with it?" Bill watches Stan from the corner of his eyes to make sure he didn't try to pull anything as he leans down to level with his brother.

Ford would have hit Bill himself if it weren't for the fact that he aches all over and can barley move his arms.

"I don't need a 'yes' from you to get in that big head of yours, your mind is mine to use however I please...and you know what, that gives me a idea."

"Don't-" Ford jerks back as Bill's entire body began to glow a bright yellow, his eyes widen in alarm and lets out a loud gasp. Stan rushes over to help him but before he can land a hit on him, Bill's gone and Ford's gone still.

Stan slips off his brass knuckles quickly and cups his brother's face in between his hands, his eyes staring up at him but no one was home.

"Ford, force him out." Stan shouts at him, frantically looking for any signs of his brother still in there. He grabs Ford's shoulders to try and shake him out of it but painfully grunts when a hand grabs him by the neck, forcing him back. Stan gags and grabs the hand on his throat, feeling them tighten their grip. Ford's eyes suddenly change, yellow spreading through white and round pupils becoming sharp.

"To answer your brother's question from earlier, my point is that even though you both always fight, you both really do CARE about one another." Bill stands up, making Stan almost trip a little and watches in horror as flames engulf his brother's free hand. "It had me wondering how much would it hurt Fordsie if I had him kill his brother with his own bare hands? And from the constant begging in my ear right now, I guess it would devastate him!"

"You're a monster," Stan forces out, wincing when the pressure on his neck got painfully tight and chokes. Bill hits him with the fiery fist, burning a small part of Stan's and the man lands on his back again.

"And you know what I'll do next?" He laughs, standing over him with both feet on either side of his hips and siting down on his gut. "I think I'll have your brother visit those two adorable little great niece and nephew of yours. One at a time, I'll have him to wrap his hands around their throats and squeeze, forcing him to watch as the life leaves their eyes and by his own hands too! Who do you think I should kill first? Pine tree ? I think it would fun to make little Shooting Star cry for her brother as she watches her dear great-uncle Ford strangle him to death."

Before Stan can even think about lifting a hand to punch the daylights out of him, a rock hits the side of his brother's head hard and he almost falls over. Stan takes the opportunity and grabs the front of Ford's sweater, using his legs to lift him up and throws him into the circle, finally trapping him.

"I won't let ya touch her, demon!" Stan turns his head and to his surprise, sees Gideon on the other side of the trap. The boy winces and falls down onto his knees, the look of agonizing pain on his face and from where he was, Stan could see the nasty burns.


	15. Chapter 15

"Gideon, hold on." He gets to his feet, balance a little shaky from the lack of oxygen to his brain but he runs around the devil's trap to get to him. "Hey, don't die on us just yet. I'll get ya to a hospital, alright? I'll call Soos and have him come get ya."

"I'm fine, old man." Gideon tells him, sitting down properly and watches Ford, no Bill stand back up with a look of pure rage on his face.

"I should have kill you when I got the chance, you miserable brat!" Bill screams, charging at them but runs into some sort of invisible wall. He looks up, sneers up at the symbol above him and turns back at them. "I'll make you both suffer and by the time I'm done, you'll both be begging for death!"

Ford's voice warps dementedly, almost sounding like it was fused with Bill's angry one. His eyes were black with red merge with yellow pupils, the ones Bill had when he was indeed angry.

"Do you still have the copy of the spell, Stan?" Gideon asks, watching Bill pace back and forth in the circle like a caged animal. Stan nods and digs the folded up paper out of his pocket, handing it over to him.

"Will him being inside Ford's body hurt my brother in anyway?" Stan asks, sitting down beside the boy and looking at his back. He makes a face at it, guilt eating at him when he sees how bad it is but forces himself to turn back to the dream demon that was staring them both down with the intent to kill.

"Most likely not, the spell was meant to rid evil so it'll probably just remove him from Ford's body, like a exorcism." Gideon tenses and doubles over in pain.

"Gideon?!"

"I'm fine!" The boy shakes his head and pushes his hand away as he unfold the spell. "Worry about me when this is all over."

"Boy, those burns look bad." Stan says but too softly for him to hear.

"You'll both regret this," Bill warns, getting both of their attentions. "Even if you get rid of me, I'll find my way back and I'll make you both pay dearly for this."

"You won't do shit, Bill." Stan replies, getting back to his feet and helping Gideon too. The boy holds the page up and began to read the first verse, as soon as the words left Gideon's mouth, Bill lets out a inhuman shriek. Gideon flinches but doesn't stop speaking, watching him step away from them cringing and covering his ears.

"Stop!" He shouts, shaking his head and unintentionally retreating from Ford's body. Ford falls down onto his knees in a daze and touches his head but looks up at them when he hears the familiar incantation being spoken but turns his attention over his shoulder when he hears the cries of distress. Bill's on his knees, head between his knees with his hands over his ears. "Ford, please! Make them stop!"

"After everything you put me and everyone through tonight, why should I help you?" Bill looks up at him pleadingly before pressing his face to the dirt, Ford gets to his feet and turns to make sure Stan's okay but feels a hand grab the helm of his pants leg.

"I don't want to die." Ford pulls his leg away, feeling suddenly very angry and turns to him.

"Neither does my family!" He kicks the blonde with no remorse. After what he's done, Bill deserves more than just a kick to the face and Ford wants to hurt him, want to so badly but he could barely stand.

A hand grabs his wrist and pulls him away from the blonde, Ford turns to see Stan leading them out of the circle and wraps his arms protectively around him once they were. Stan presses his face against his neck, letting one of his hands run up to the back of Ford's head to cradle him there and lets out a shaky breath.

"Stan, I'm fine. Everything's alright now." Ford tells him, his arms loop around his neck and leans his head against his brother's.

"I could have lost you," Stan's voice breaks like he's about to cry and he feels him tremble against him.

"Could have lost me?" Ford uneasily laughs, lowering his arms to rub his back comfortingly. "I'm not the one Bill was trying to kill here."

Stan laughs weakly and pulls back, rubbing the loose tears from his eyes. Ford gives him a tender smile and turns to look at Bill again, watching the way his body began to distort.

"Stan, you have the sigil on you, you're gonna have to get close to him." Gideon reminds him, "The spell won't work if you don't."

Ford grabs Stan's hand before he could even take a step towards the circle.

"Ford?"

"Let me do it," Ford tells him, reaching in his pocket for him pocket knife. Stan gives him a look like he's crazy and snatches it out of his hand before he could even open it.

"I've got paint, genius!" He shoves the knife into his own pocket to keep his brother from craving himself and points towards the buckets of paint that sat a few feet away. "And why can't I just do it? It's already drawn on me."

"Do you even know what the sigil on your chest is used for, Stanley?"

"Not really...but it helps with getting rid of him though, right?" Stan scratches the back of his neck.

"It banishes the use of his powers not him," Ford shakes his head, letting out a deep sigh and points his finger at him. "And the sigil binds him to you and I didn't go through all this trouble of removing him from your head just for you to go binding him to yourself again!"

"What?! Why didn't you just say that?!" Stan snaps at him, throwing his hands over his head.

"I thought you knew, how am I supposed to know you didn't read the spell entirely?!

"You're not binding yourself to that monster." Stan argues, pointing towards Bill.

"Someone has to and it's not going to be you." Ford replies back as he picks up the discarded paint brush and rolls up his sleeve, painting it on with ease. "Bill wouldn't be here at all if it weren't for me to begin with, so I'll take responsibility."

"And what are we going to do with him, keep him as a pet? I don't want that menace in the shack or around the kids." Stan fumes, crossing his arms but Ford pulls them away from his chest and Stan lifts a brow when his brother undoes the front of his shirt. "What are doing?"

"Ruining the one on your chest, I don't want to chance Bill getting attached to you instead of me." Ford licks his thumb and smudges the ink on his chest, Stan feels his cheeks getting warm and turns his head away. "And as for what we're going to do with him, I don't know. I'll keep him down in the lab and contained to keep him from hurting anyone."

"I don't want him in the shack." Stan gets a stern look from his twin but instead of getting a snappy reply like he's used to, Ford sets a hand on his shoulder and gives him a reassuring squeeze.

"Stan, I'll make sure he won't get out and hurt anyone." Ford's hand slips down his arms and wraps around his brother's. "But right now you've got to trust me, okay?"

Stan lowers his eyes to their hands ands tightens his own fingers around the other's.

"You know I trust you," Stan sighs and looks Ford in the eyes, rubbing his thumb over the top of his fingers. "Just be careful, you're already all banged up as it is."

Ford huffs at him, turning to face Bill again and takes a deep breath as he approaches him again. The blonde lifts his head at the sound of footsteps getting closer.

"Stanford..." Ford frowns hearing his name coming from the other one's mouth..

"No need for you to continue, Gideon. I can handle the rest." Ford says, not taking his eyes away from the dream demon in front of him.

"Fordsie." Bill tries but instead of getting an answer, Ford picks up where Gideon left off and chants the incantation with ease. Bill forces himself to stand, knees starting wobble but catches himself from falling by grabbing Ford's arm. The man doesn't flitch away from his touch, staring down at him instead and continues the spell as the blonde begs him to stop.

It doesn't dawn on Ford until he sees the desperation in Bill's eyes, Bill still thinks he's going to die here and he thinks Ford going to be the one to kill him.


	16. Chapter 16

Stan slowly lifts Gideon over his his shoulder as gently as he can but regardless, the boy still makes noises of pain. Stan takes extra care to avoid touching his back as he gets back up onto his feet, Gideon opens his eyes and notices that he's being lifted and looks down to the man holding him.

"What are you...doing?" Gideon asks in a pained voice just as Stan begins to head towards the door.

When did he pass out?

"Heading outside, I just called Soos so he should be coming this way to take ya to the hospital."

"But yer brother, what about him?" Gideon asks, lifting his head to see Ford in the distance and sees that the man was inside the trap alone with Bill. "We can't just leave him to deal with Bill all on his own, he's hurt-"

"And so are you and I'm not leaving him, I'll be right back once you're taken care of." Stan tells him as he approaches the opening in the church's floor. "Besides, Ford is tougher than he looks, he'll be fine down here while I'm helping ya."

They stop once they reach the hole leading outside.

Stan stares up at the opening, thinking about how he was going to go about getting them both up there when he hears Gideon mutter under his breath.

"What's that?" He asks, twisting his pinkie in his ear. "Speak up, I have trouble hearing, ya know."

"I asked why!" Gideon snaps at him, taking the man by surprise for only moment then rolls his eyes when he understood what the boy was getting at. "We're not friends, we don't even like each other so why would you-"

"Shut up, will ya?" Stan cuts him up with a huff, setting him down so the boy could sit on a rock and kneels down in front of him. The boy stares back with a frown, like he wants to argue with him but remains silent. "I don't really care if we're rivals, enemies or whatever, that really doesn't matter right now. You're hurt pretty badly and got hurt trying to help me save my brother and protect your own family."

"But-" Stan cuts him off again with a hand to the face.

"And even if you didn't do anything at all, I wouldn't have just left you down here like this, no matter how much of a pain in my rear you are. You're hurt pretty badly, Gideon." Stan points out and moves his hands as he speaks. "Of course I'm going to get you some help."

For a moment, Gideon doesn't say anything at all. He just stares back at him with a emotionless stare, like he was thinking about how he should reply to that but couldn't think of anything to say. Stan let out a sigh and pulls the twig sticking out of the boy's messy hair.

"Once you're out of the hospital and better, we can bicker and fight each other all you want but for right now, I'm only worried about making sure everyone's alright. That includes you too, freakin' heathen."

"Boss?" Stan looks up and sees his handyman aiming his flashlight down at them. Once he sees Gideon, his happy expression turns into a worried one. "Oh hey, little dude...are you alright?"

"No, he's not alright." Stan stands back up, dusting his pants legs off. "I need you to take him to the hospital."

"What happened?" Soos frowns, setting his light down and getting on one knee. "Here, can you lift him up to me?"

"It's up too high up, I don't want to chance hurting him more." Stan says, looking around to see if there's anything but everything was too rotted to use. "Do you still have that ladder in yer truck?"

"Yep! I'll go get it, stay right there!" Soos gets back up to his feet and rushes off.

"Like we could go anywhere when we're stuck down here," Gideon mutters bitterly and kicks some of the rocks under his feet. Stan leans against the stone wall, staring down in the direction his brother was in and wonders how he's fairing. Worry grows in the pit of his belly so he crosses his arms over his chest and lets out a deep breath. "You can head back to yer brother if ya want, I'll be fine here."

"Not until I know Soos has ya." He grunts.

"I can see that yer obviously worried about him, it's all over your face." Gideon huffs, staring down at his hands. "He probably needs you more than I do right now so go ahead, Soos can take care of me from here."

Stan opens his mouth to argue but hears the sound of footsteps overhead and ladder clanking against the wooden floor, he looks up and sees Soos lowering it down to them.

"Alright but don't be giving Soos any trouble." He tells Gideon, leaning off the wall and adjusting his beanie. "After we're done here and have everything taken care of, we'll meet you there."

"I don't need you checking up on me, old man." Gideon gets up on his own and winces, breathing sharply through his nose. "But I do suppose I ought to call and tell my folks, they're probably freaking out."

"You can call them after you're already checked in," Stan tells him as Soos climbs down the ladder, he turns his attention to his handyman. "You won't have any trouble getting him up the ladder, will ya?"

"No problem, Mr. Pines." Soos gives him a thumbs up.

"But be careful, his back is awfully burned. You need to get him to the ER as quickly as you can." He tells him. "Ignore the speed limit if ya have to, now get going!"

Soos nods and turns to the boy, helping him up and leads him to the ladder.

"I'll be right behind you, just climb carefully." Soos smiles at him reassuringly. "I won't let you fall, dude!"

Stan watches them climb up the ladder before he turns and starts walking back down the poorly lit mines, the closer he got to the room his brother was in, the more worried he got.

He couldn't hear Ford chanting anymore.

Stan walks in a faster pace then starts to run until he gets to the doorway and sees his brother still standing in the middle of the trap.

"Ford?" Stan calls out, heading over to him quickly. "Hey, you alright? Where's Bill?"

Ford turns and looks at him from over his shoulder, he has a indescribable look on his face. Stan tilts his head and starts to think there's something wrong, where was Bill?

It wasn't until he got closer that he saw Bill sitting in the palm of his brother's hands, he was in his normal, triangular body again but really small; staring up at Ford with curious eyes.

"He doesn't remember." Ford tells Stan as he got closer, getting brother's attention again.

"Doesn't remember?" He asks, giving him a confused look.

"Must have been a effect of the spell but he doesn't remember anything," Ford shakes his head and holds the dream demon up to him, watching the smaller being cling onto his fingers from the sudden motion. "He has amnesia, he doesn't even know his own name."

"Then why don't ya just stomp on him and be done with it," Stan grimaces at Bill and pushes his brother's hands away to look at him. "We can just go home and not worry about it ever again."

"You and I both know that wouldn't kill him," Ford gives him a dull expression, looking down at the small triangle in his hands. "I'll still have to place him in a confinement chamber and seal it with a spell. Even with amnesia, he's still too dangerous and I don't want to chance it."

"I still say we should stomp him." Stan mutters, moving closer to his brother's side and slides his arm over Ford's shoulders. "But lets get home and...put him away, do you have anything like that ready to lock him up? And for how long? Until we find a better way to get rid of him for good?"

"I don't know, Stan." Ford shrugs his shoulders and leans into him, relaxing against his brother's side. "But going back to the Mystery Shack does sounds nice, so does a hot shower."

"Come on, lets get ya home." Stan turns, leading towards the door but stops once he realizes Bill still couldn't go pass the trap overhead and lets out a annoyed groan. "Can't we just leave him down here? He can't go anywhere."

"And chance someone to come along and mess up the symbol, setting him free in the process? No."

"Yer a pain in the ass, ya know." Stan complains, pulling out the knife he took from his brother and grabs the box he stood on from earlier, scratching at the paint on the ceiling. He gets down and notices his brother was shivering, it only made sense since it was a bit nippy down here. Stan shrugs off his coat, placing it over his shoulder and loops his arm back around him. "Now lets go home."


	17. Chapter 17

Stan lifts his head off the back of his chair when he hears his brother coming back up from his lab and lets out a tired breath before laying his head back down to rest his eyes some more. He didn't expect for it to take Ford so long to put away the little nightmare, he must have almost fallen asleep while waiting for him to come back up.

"Stan?" He hears Ford say, hearing his footsteps coming closer and stops in front of his chair. He doesn't respond and soon after he feels his brother take off his beanie and his glasses then feels his fingers run through his hair. "Did you fall asleep already?"

The said man makes a low humming noise, leaning his head against his brother's hand and hears Ford chuckle as he continues to run his fingers through his hair. It's rare for his brother to treat him this tenderly and kind of saddening that Ford's only doing this because he thinks he's asleep but Stan didn't want it stop just yet, so he stays still and quiet to enjoy Ford's affections a little bit longer.

His heart skips a little when he feels his brother kiss the side of his head, it wasn't really something he figure Ford would normally do but who was he to complain?

Just as he's about to open his eyes and tease his twin for being so affectionate towards him while he slept, Stan's breath catches in his throat and he forgets how to function all together. Stan slowly opens his eyes and sees that Ford's leaning over him, his other hand now resting on the back of his chair, beside his own head while the other gently rest against his cheek and his lips pressing against his own.

At first, Stan's thrown off by the action but then he's feels almost baffled and his eyebrows knit together in confusion.

"Ford, whatcha ya doing?" Stan asks between their lips and feels Ford tense above him, jerking back quickly to look down at him with a frighten look on his face.

"Stan..." Ford goes to pull away but Stan grabs him by his arm before he could get the chance to. Stan sits up, scratching his head with his free hand and pulls Ford close again. "Stan, I'm sorry..."

"Yer only sorry because you got caught," A sly smirk slowly starts to grow on his face when Ford's unable to meet his gaze and eyes franticly looking everywhere but at him. Ford shakes his head and meets his eyes finally, his face slight flush from the embarrassment.

"It was uncalled for, I shouldn't have...I'm sorry, I-" A wail of surprise escapes Ford as the other yanks him closer, his legs loosing balance from the arm of the chair and he stumbles into his brother's lap. Ford looks up at his brother with a look of bewilderment and that's when Stan notices the new stitches in his forehead, that explains what was taking him so long.

"Stop yer yammering, sixer." Stan shuts him up by returning a kiss of his own, hearing Ford make a noise in the back of his throat and holds his hand against the startled man's cheek to keep him still. Slowly, Stan deepens the kiss and lets his tongue slip pass his lips to brush against Ford's, earning a soft gasp. Arms slowly reach up and loop around Stan's neck, pulling him down closer as Ford reciprocates the kiss, his own tongue brushing against his exploring one.

Finally they pull away needing to breathe, not breaking eye contact as a nice shade of red graces their cheeks and panting very heavily.

"You...just kissed me." Ford says, pointing out the obvious.

"You kissed me first," Stan grunts in reply, leaning back in his chair and has his brother lean against his shoulder with his arm around his waist.

"No, I mean why. Why did you kiss me back, Stanley?" Stan just shrugs his shoulders, he was never really good about talking about feelings and all that mushy nonsense but he did really enjoy watching his brother getting so worked up and flustered.

"You started it, why did ya kiss me?" He asks in return, smiling devilishly at him. At first Ford doesn't say anything, looking down at his brother's chest and his hands, muttering softly to himself. "I'm a old man with a hearing aid, yer gonna have to speak up."

"Because I really wanted to, Stan." Ford confesses as Stan got his glasses off the side table to look at his brother more clearly, watching the man fidget nervously in his lap before his spoke again. "I know I'm not the most touchy-feely person in the world, I was definitely never as good as you when it came to hitting it off with women and you were...the only person I've ever been really close to besides Fiddleford."

"Still doesn't explain why ya want to swap spit with yer brother." Stan teases him more, making him look away embarrassed and rubs Ford's arm comfortingly. This reminds him that old man Mcgucket might be still hanging around somewhere, Stan looks towards the doorway on their left and wonders if the old man went back to sleep or if he decided to just go on home.

"You don't make me feel like a freak, Stan." Ford's hands draw up against his belly like he was trying to hide them. "I'm comfortable when I'm around you even when you drive me mad sometimes and I'm not getting any younger, neither of us are."

"Who are ya calling old? I'm spry as a newborn spring chicken." Stan jokes, seeing a small smile slip onto his brother's face. Ford halfheartedly shoves him before settling back against his shoulder and hesitantly rests his head on him.

"Do you think I'm disgusting?" Ford self-consciously asks, feeling Stan lean his head against his.

"Well I kissed ya back so I guess that means I am too." Stan laughs, trying ease the tension in the serious situation and feels him relax against him.

Stan couldn't remember the last time they were this close, it had to have been over 30 years ago, maybe even longer back when they were teens before the accident with Ford's machine. Ford probably was so deprived from basic human touch from being inside the portal for so long that he's not really comfortable with giving others affection or being this close to someone; the man was most likely touch-starved.

He didn't mind to give his brother affection but the day Ford came back out of the portal, he was just so angry and kept his distance from him. Wanted him gone and to be left alone. Even after what happen and they saved the town, they still always fought a lot but they gotten closer again since then. Ford would sometimes touch his shoulder comfortingly from time to time or pat his back but this was the first time he's ever give him a kiss of any sort, forehead or mouth.

"So you wouldn't mind if I kissed you?" Ford reaches out and touches his hand, letting his fingers wrap around his own.

No, Stan wouldn't mind it at all. In fact, he would love getting kisses from his brother and would even enjoy giving Ford some of his own but how would the others react if they found the two men kissing? They were brothers after all, twins no less.

"I don't mind at all but we might want to keep it below the radar, if ya know what I mean." Stan replies, rubbing his brother's hand with his thumb. He knew Ford understood what he was implying, he didn't need to answer, he could see it on Ford's face when his mouth turn into firm line and his eyes serious. "But that doesn't mean I would like ya to stop, kiss me all ya like. I like the idea of you using that mouth for something other than snapping at me all the damn time."

At this Ford's eyes widen and his face turns incredibly red, covering his mouth with a hand.

"What?!" He practically squeaks through his hand, trying to hide his flushing cheeks.

"I meant kissing, Ford! Where's yer mind at?!" Stan turns red himself and starts laughing at him, patting his shoulder for him to get up. "You know, as much as I would like to sit here and make ya blush all night, we've got to get to the hospital. Soos probably waiting in the waiting room all by himself, probably could use some company."

"Y-yeah." Ford gets up, fetching his trench coat and pulls on his boots. He watches Stan do the same, snatching up the beanie and sees him stroke it carefully before putting it on. Ford turns away before his brother could catch him staring and smiles as finishes pulling on the last boot.

Stan felt the same and return his feelings, Ford almost couldn't believe it. He jumps when a hand caresses the back of his neck and he looks to see Stan smiling down at him.

"I want you to get checked out too while we're there." Stan tells him, helping him get back up onto his feet.

"I'm fine. Besides the stitches, I just have a few scratches." Ford replies but Stan wasn't having it. He shakes his head at him and leads him towards the door. "Stan."

"Don't care. Lord only knows what that monster has done to yer head down there, yer getting checked out by a doctor just to be sure." He says firmly, closing the door behind them. Ford rolls his eyes but doesn't argue with him, he knew better. Stan acted mean but Ford knew he was just worried and protective of his family, that's just the way his brother always was and it makes his heart swell.

By damned, he was in love with the overly protective man.


	18. Chapter 18

The drive to the hospital was mostly a quite one, Stan drove while Ford sat in the passenger seat. Stan occasionally peeks over to his brother from the corner of his eye and sees the man resting his head against the window, slowly nodding off.

Stan can't blame him. After the crazy night they just had, he was exhausted too.

When they reach the hospital, Stan parks, turning to his brother and shakes his shoulder to wake him.

"Ford, we're here. It's time to get up." Stan tells him, sitting back in his seat as his twin begin to stir. "You can sleep more once we get inside."

"Don't you still want me to have myself checked out?" Ford rubs an eye tiredly and adjusts his glasses before unbuckling his seatbelt and popping his back.

"Yeah, you go do that while I go find Gideon's room, okay?" Stan leans over and quickly presses his lips against the corner of his mouth, kind of testing the new waters a little. " I'll come and find ya afterwards."

"I think you should be really taking it easy too, Stanley." Ford points out the dark bruises forming on Stan's neck as he got out of the car with him.

"I'll take it easy when we get back," Stan slams the door shut and rests his arms on the roof of the car, leaning against the door. "Because I'm going to be a nervous wreck until we know for sure the kids' alright."

"I know, Ley."

"Are ya still having trouble walking?" Stan asks, tapping his fingers against the roof. "I can go grab a wheelchair."

"I'm fine," Ford insists. "Don't need a wheelchair."

"What about the cuts on yer hands?"

"They're fine, Stanley." Ford shakes his head at him and steps around the front of the car. "Let the doctors worry about me and you just worry about finding Gideon's room."

"Alright but ya better tell me everything they say," Stan demands with a pointing finger as he walks up beside him, noticing Ford still walked with a limp. "Don't be keeping things from me."

"I won't do that," Ford feels his brother's hand loop around his back and instead of insisting that he's fine walking on his own, Ford slips his own arm around Stan's shoulders to shift his weight off his sore leg.

"And I want ya sleeping in a decent bed tonight instead of that small couch of yer's." Stan tells him in a tone that told him he didn't have much of choice in the matter. "It's freezing in there during this time of the year."

"I could sleep upstairs in one of the kid's beds." Ford replies with a shrug.

"Nah, my room has a furnace in it. Been wanting ya to sleep in there anyway so ya wouldn't freeze, just haven't gotten around to ask ya." Stan laughs, "Even thought about bringing one of the kid's bed down for ya to sleep on but you can just sleep in mine with me...if yer comfortable with that."

They haven't slept in the same bed in a very long, long time. The last time the brothers shared a bed, it was when they were still in their teens. Ford was always having trouble sleeping when he was younger so Stan would have him climb down into his bunk and talk to him until he fell asleep, they would sometimes wake up the next morning with one of them almost falling off of the bed.

Ford smiles at the fond memory and nods, he would like to have nights like that again. Falling asleep listening to whatever crazy story Stan would come up with, sharing warmth and to be honest, Ford missed having Stan's arms around him while he slept.

Once they're inside, Stan forces Ford sit down then makes his way up to the front desk. The nurse at the desk is a pretty young thing, a little pale but Stan didn't mind. She looks up from the computer she been currently typing away at and smiles at him.

He has her make a appointment for his brother and after that's settled, he asks for Gideon's room number. The nurse frowns and tells him that the boy was currently in the ER but if he wanted, he could wait outside with the boy's parents.

Stan frowns, he could only imagine how that's going to go. Bud was probably ready to throttle him for getting his son hurt so badly, he almost wanted to turn around and scram before the boy's parents saw him.

"Mr. Pines?" Stan sees Soos waving at him a little down the hallway. "Thought you would never come, what took you guys so long?!"

"Had a few things to take care of," Ford answers for him, standing up to go stand by his brother. "How's Gideon's condition?"

"The doc says he's doing fine so far, has him all wrapped up in bandages right now." Soos explains and pulls Ford in a hug, getting a small wince from the older man. "I'm glad to see you're alright, dude! We were so worried about you."

"I'm alright but Stan's having me see a doctor before we leave." Ford smiles at his brother, who just rolls his eyes at him.

"Just makin' sure nothings broken." Stan replies, crossing his arms in defense. "Doesn't hurt to make sure."

Before Ford has a chance to say a sly remark, he hears his name being called by the nurse and turns to see she's rolling a wheelchair towards him.

"I can walk, ma'am." He says but she tells him, she saw him limping when he came in and that she wasn't going to argue with him. Stan laughs at his brother's defeat and with a sigh, Ford sits in the wheelchair for her.

"Sooo, can ya take me to the kid's room?" Stan asks, watching his brother being wheeled away.

"Yeah, I'm sure his dad wants to talk to you anyway." Soos nods, leading the way.

"Oh boy..." Stan groans, rubbing his eyes but follows. "He's not going to strangle me when he sees me, is he? Because I've already had enough of that tonight."

Stan reaches up to touch his neck, the skin still hurts to touch and his throat was still a bit sore.

"No way, dude!" Soos smiles, elbowing his shoulder playfully. "Gideon told them that the boy he went out with attacked him then threaten them, also told them you sent me to take them somewhere safe while you helped their son."

"But you were the one who took Gideon to the hospital, where were they?"

"In my trunk, dude!" Soos explains. "I told them you couldn't come with us because you were still helping your brother because he got hurt too."

So Gideon didn't tell them everything.

"He lied to them?" Stan asks, his brows knit together and tilts his head. "I'm the reason he got seriously hurt in the first place, why would he lie for me?"

The kid hated him, didn't he?

"He probably didn't want his parents to know the truth about Bill." Soos suggests but shrugs his shoulders. "And you did save him, so he didn't technically lie. He would probably have been a goner if you hadn't called me, Boss. You save his life!"

They turn the corner and as Stan was about to reply, huge arms wrap around him and pull him into a tight bear hug, practically lifting him off the ground. The man gives a high pitched, though he would denied it if anyone asked, startled yelp and sees Bud smiling up at him, he sets Stan back down and pats his shoulder.

"There you are, we've been wonderin' where you were." He smiles at him greatly, his wife standing a few feet away. She look worried as always, her hands against her chest but she has a small smile, if you could call it that, on her face. "Heard you save my boy, I can't thank ya enough, Stan!"

"You don't have to, Gleeful." Stan replies, rubbing his now sore arms. "How is the kid, can you see him yet?"

"They told us we could see him in a few more minutes," The bigger man tells him, looking towards the room they knew their son was in. "Trying to make him a bit more comfortable before he can have visitors."

"Ah, I see."

"How's your brother? I heard he got hurt pretty badly too, is he here too?"

"Yeah, one of the nurses have already ran off with him." Stan laughs softly. "Told him I'd come and find him after I checked on yer boy."

"You're more than welcome to sit with us while we wait," He walks over and sits with his wife and pats the chair next to them. Stan thanks him and sits down, Soos takes the chair beside him.

"Did he give ya any trouble?" Stan asks Soos, leaning forward and rests his arms on his knees.

"Nah, he was pretty quite durning the ride up here."

"What happen to your neck there, Pines?" Stan hears Bud ask and turns to him.

"Uh, don't worry about it. Doesn't hurt too much." Stan zips his coat closed to hide the blooming bruises. "They'll heal quickly on their own."

"Are you sure you don't need to be checked out too?" Bud asks, frowning in concern. Stan looked horrible, in pain even and tired. "You look like you're close to just collapsing."

"I just might," Stan halfheartedly jokes, staring at the door. Hoping if he just brushes their concerns off as a joke, they'd just drop it. He didn't need anyone worrying about him, he was fine. Tough. Plus he didn't like doctors or hospitals much for that matter, he was only here because he needs to be. "All I need is a nap, I'll be good as new in the morning."

"Are you sure?" Soos asks concern in his voice, he feels the man's hand on his back and this time, he doesn't shrug it off.

"Could probably go for some soda," He mutters, wondering if there was a vending machine close by.

"Mr. & Mrs. Gleeful?" They heard and look up to see a doctor standing at their son's door, he's smiling so that's good. "Your sons ready to see you if you like."

"What about his friends here?" Bud asks, referring to Stan and Soos.

"Two at a time for right now." The doctor replies, setting his clipboard in the slot hanging up by the door. "They can see him next after you're both done."

They both get up and waved to them before heading inside. Stan lets out a sigh and leans back in his seat, letting Soos leave his arm around his shoulder. He's too tired to care at the moment.

"So what all happen down there?" Soos asks, starting at the collar of the other man's jacket. "Did the plan not work?"

"It worked, it just didn't go as smooth as we thought it would," Stan groans, laying his head back and rubbing his eyes. "It went so badly, Bill knew Gideon was going to help us so he...he torched the poor kid."

Soos frowns and turns his attention to across the hall, he could tell Stan was blaming himself for it. His entire body language read, 'I'm guilty, it's my fault'.

"He didn't even fall for the trap, I had to throw him in there but not after he tried to strangle the life out me and threaten the kids," Stan turns in his seat to face the other man. "He threaten to kill them while he was possessing Ford, if it weren't for Gideon-"

Stan bite his lip and pulls his beanie off to run his hand through his hair, letting out another huge breath.

He would have been dead and Bill would have been free to hunt down and kill the rest of his family, his brother would have been his puppet to do so.

He owed Gideon a lot for this.

"Mr. Pines?" Stan and Soos look up to see a nurse walking towards them, clipboard in hand. Stan feels like he's seen her before but couldn't put her finger on it.

"Uh, yeah?" Stan asks, she must have came to find and tell him how Ford's doing. "How's my brother doing?"

"He's fine but I came here for you." She tells him, scribbling away on her clipboard.

"Excuse me?"

"Your brother thought it would be a good idea to make sure you were doing alright as well." She tells him and reaches out to places the back of her hand on his cheek, making a face. "And I think he was right, you're looking a bit pale."

That little sneak.

"Listen here, girly." Stan pulls his cheek away from her hand and crosses his arms as she retracted her hand. "I'm already paying for one hospital bill, I'm not about to add another."

"Your brother has medical insurance to help pay for the costs." She replies, handing him the clipboard. "You'll barely have to pay for anything at all."

"I'm waiting to see a friend."

"They'll still be here when we're done, it shouldn't take too long." Stan reads over the papers with a bitter grimace, it was already filled out and everything was taken care of. "Mr. Pines?"

He still didn't like doctors though.

"Go head, I'll tell Gideon you'll be right back." Soos tells him, patting his back. Stan hands her back the clipboard and huffs.

"Where's my brother?" Stan stands up, putting his beanie back on.

"Still waiting in the room we had him in, that's where we're heading." She smiles and turns away for him to follow. "Stanford is more than welcome to stay in the room with you if that'll make you more comfortable. He told me you weren't too fond of hospitals."

"Oh he did, did he?" Stan makes a face but waves his goodbyes to Soos and follows the nurse. "So how's my brother, do you know? Anything wrong?"

"We've cleaned and rewrapped all of the lacerations on his hands, also made sure the stitches in his head were alright." The nurse tells him, the clacking of her heels echo throughout the hallway as the two turn around the corner. "He's pretty bruised up, probably be sore for a while and seem to have sprained his ankle. He's also slightly dehydrated and physically exhausted, we have him resting and drinking plenty of water."

She stops and turning on her heel, staring at him then looks down at the collar of his jacket.

"What?" Stan raises a brow at her, holding hand up to it to block her view.

"Earlier I saw bruises around your throat, like someone had tried to strangle you." She replies, giving him a look of concern. "You're the one who helped that Gleeful boy, weren't you?"

"So what if I was?" He taking his hand away with a shrug. "What's it to ya, girlie?"

"We've already talked to the boy and he told us he didn't want to get the police involved to find and press charges against the person who attacked him," She replies, pulling out and sheet and hands it to him. Stan takes it and reads over what was written, all features describing Bill's human form. "We've talked to his father and he described him the best he could."

"You want to know if I want to get the cops involved?" Stan knew it would be a waste of time, no point of sending Sheriff Blubs and his Deputy on a wild goose chase when they already had the monster captured. "I don't know, I think we're just all tired and just want to go home."

The nurse raises her brow but nods, thinking over something. He could see the gears in her head turning but he didn't want to linger on this for much longer, he was getting tired and didn't want to spend the rest of the night in this freaking place.

"What happen to the man responsible?" She asks suddenly, getting his attention again. "Did he leave you all down there or did you kill him?"

"I...don't know..." Stan frowns, he knew she was only curious about what happen but he didn't know what to tell her, he couldn't exactly tell her the truth. "I don't really remember."

Play the failing memory card seem to work but her face softens and she looks concerned.

"Still having trouble with remembering things?" She asks. Stan frowns and rubs his temple, he knows he's seen this woman before. Somewhere. "Mr. Pines, do you remember me?"

"Katherine," The name came to him out of no where, he lifts his head to look at her. She was the nurse who help him when he was still having memory issues. "Yeah, sorry. I'm not thinking straight, tonight has just been crazy and all."

"Are you sure?" Kathrine frowns, placing her hand on his shoulder. "Have you been forgetting things here recently?"

"Yes, I'm sure." Stan shrugs her hand off, not wanting to be patronized. Now he remembers why he didn't like doctors or hospitals that much. He didn't like the way doctors spoke to him when he couldn't remember his own name, pitying him. Stan felt so vulnerable then and he hated it, he never wants to feel that way again. "It was just a name, people forget them all the time. I'm not losing my damn mind, just get this check up or whatever over already!"

"Stanley." The man turns to see his brother closing a door behind him, Ford frowns and walking towards them, not lumping as much as he did before. "Why are you yelling?"

"I'm not yelling!" Stan snaps at him but Ford grabs his shoulders and tells him to calm down, he could feel his face heated up from anger.

"Sorry, give us a moment." Ford tells her and presses his hand against his brother's back, leading Stan into the room he was just in. Once they were both inside, Ford turns Stan around and rubs the bridge of his nose. "What happen? I could hear you from outside the room, why were you yelling at her?"

"She...I don't know, I didn't mean to." Stan sighs and leans against the medical table, rubbing his temple again. His head hurts and he didn't know why, it couldn't be because he didn't recognize the woman or had trouble remembering her name. Just a freaking headache from lack of sleep, most likely. "I just have a headache, is all. I just want to go home."

"We'll be home soon," He hears Ford say and feels his hands resting on his shoulders, rubbing them tenderly. "But...I heard her asking if you were having trouble remembering things, Stanley. Are you?"

"No, I'm not." Stan shakes his head, hopping up onto the table and tries to ignore the look of concern on his brother's face. "I'm fine, I just couldn't remember her name. It's not a big deal, Sixer."

"You're sure?" Ford asks him, running his fingers over Stan's and holds his hand. "Because you don't need to feel embarrassed-"

"I'm sure," Stan takes his hand in his and gives him a reassuring squeeze. "Now lets just get this over with, the kids alright and we can see him now."

"Alright, just stay put and I'll go tell the nurse to go get the doctor." Ford gives his hand another squeeze before letting go and leaving the room, Stan sits there and rubs his hands together nervously.


	19. Chapter 19

He hadn't meant to snap at her, she was just doing her job. Stan groans and rubs his face as the throb in his head slowly begins to fade, he felt like a total ass.

Stan lifts his head when he hears the door open and sees Ford come in, holding the door open for the doctor to follow. The doctor smiles at him, giving Stan a wave as his brother closes the door behind them and leans against the wall.

"Oh wow, I get both of you today!" He says, sitting down in the swivel chair and sets his clipboard in his lap. "I heard you got a little roughed up earlier, do you care to tell me what all hurt right now?"

"Only my pride," Stan mutters.

"Stanley," Ford says firmly, crossing his arms and giving him a look that told him to be serious. "The faster we get done here, the faster we get to go home."

"Fine, fine!" Stan rolls his eyes and sits back. "I've got some cuts and bruises here and there, a spot on my foot and a few bruises on my neck."

"Do you think there's anything broken or sprained?" The doctor asks, writing away on his clipboard then pauses, looking back up from his writing. "How about your neck? Can I see it?"

Stan mutters under his breath but unzips his jacket to reveal his neck, the other man frowns and leans forward in his chair.

"Those look painful." They do.

"Yeah but they're fine, they'll heal on their own."

"We have some creams that help them." The doctor offers, crossing his leg over another. "They'll help them fade and we can proscribe you something for the pain."

"Alright," Stan looks over to his brother and see him blinking the sleep out of his eyes. "Sounds good, do you need to know anything else or are we free to go?"

"There is one thing," The doctor says, Stan has a feeling he knows what he's going to ask.

"If it's about me having troubling with remembering things, I'm fine." Stan tells him, looking over to his brother for some sort of support. "I've been doing fine, haven't I?"

"You have." Ford nods, leaning off the wall. "I've been having him do the memory exercises and he's hasn't been having any trouble with remembering things."

"That's good to hear," The doctor sets his clipboard down on the small counter along the side of the room. "You would come back and tell us if you do start having trouble, won't you?"

"Sure," Stan gets off the table and shrugs his shoulders. "Ford would make sure I do, force me up here if he had to."

Ford huffs at him and pats his brother's shoulder.

"So are we all done here, Dr. Hart?" Ford asks, turning to the doctor. The man nods and hands him the proscription to him.

"Call me back in a few day and tell me how you both are holding up," He tells them, getting into his feet as well and shakes Ford's hand. "And for both of your healths, try to stay out of anymore fights."

"I'll be on my best behavior." Stan laughs and pats his brother's shoulder.

"And I'll make sure he stays out of trouble." Ford turns and looks at his brother with a smile. "We'll call you later but right now we need to go see a friend. Thank you, Dr. Hart."

Ford leads them out into the hallway, rubbing Stan's shoulder as they make their way back to Gideon's room. Stan sighs and loops his arm around his brother's shoulders, pulling him closer to his side.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Ford asks, letting his arm slide around his brother's waist.

"I'm still going to get you for that." Stan warns him, slightly smacking his shoulder.

"For what?" Ford looks away, innocently but couldn't keep himself from smiling so Stan pulls him closer by his neck.

"Stop acting like you don't know what I'm talking about," Stan huffs before loosening his hold on him.

"I wanted to make sure you were alright too." Ford replies, reaching up to touch the arm around his neck and takes his hand in his to hold. "I'm allowed to worry about you too."

Stan can't argue with that.

The twins make it back to Gideon's room and sees that Soos is no longer waiting outside, he must have went in while they were being taken care of. Stan lets go of his brother and approaches the door to knock then pokes his head inside.

Soos was sitting besides the boy's bed, Gideon holding a laptop and they were both talking to the screen. Stan was confused at first until he hears a familiar voice coming from the computer, it's Mabel's voice.

"So did they catch the guy?" He hears his great niece ask.

"I don't know, darling. I kind of blacked out for most of it, when I woke up I was on my way to the hospital." Gideon tells her, shrugging his shoulders.

"Are you sure you're okay? You covered in bandages, how bad are they? The burns?" Mabel asks with concern. At this, Gideon touches the bandage on his arm and frowns.

"They're mostly on my back, the doctors put me on some pain killers so they don't hurt too bad." The boy looks up from the computer to see Stan poking his head in. "Your great uncles are back, if you and your brother wanna say hi."

Gideon turns the laptop towards to door as both him and Ford step inside. The girl lights up and waves at them.

"Hiya! Oh my gosh, Grunkle Stan! Grunkle Ford!" Mabel jumps up and down in her seat, Dipper tries to tell her to calm down because she was shaking the camera but she could barely contain her excitement. "How are you both doing? You both look so tired!"

"Mabel, you're shaking the table." Dipper makes her sit back down in her seat but she continue to grin at the screen as Dipper turn his attention back to them. "Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah, we're both doing fine." Stan walks over and sits on the edge of the bed as Ford took the spare seat. "Little sore but nothing a good night's sleep can't handle."

Dipper leans against his sister and nods, looking at Ford.

"Did they ever catch the guy?" Dipper asks, playing with the pencil in his hand.

"I believe he was taken care of, yes." Ford answers before Stan could, the other twin scratches his head. Why weren't they telling them about Bill? "Nothing to worry about, everything's fine now."

Then he understood, nobody wanted them to worry about the dream demon but they couldn't exactly keep it from them. Bill was held down in Ford's lab, he couldn't keep them from going down there forever but for now, he suppose ignorance is blessed. Stan can sit them both down and tell them about it later when they visit, it's better if they don't spend their school year worrying about the monster in their great uncles basement.

"So..." Gideon sets the laptop on the side table and adjusts himself to get more comfortable. "When you both come back...wouldn't you...wouldn't both of you like to..."

"Like to...?" Mabel tilts her head to the side, there's a knowing smile on her face as the boy struggle to get his words out. Soos gives him a motivating thumbs up from off screen.

"Like to hang out?"

"Sure! We can go camping, hiking, go swimming-after you're all better, course." Mabel turns to Dipper and wraps a arm around her brother's shoulders. "We can even go investigate weird things with Dipper because I know you like doing that too but...um, would you be better by then?"

"I dunno, maybe but even if I'm still healing, we could still come up with something." The boy winces and settles back against his pillows. "Like watching movies or something."

"Sounds like fun," The girl muses, yawning.

"Well, it's getting late over here. We should probably getting ready for bed." Dipper tells them, watching his sister rub her tired eyes. "You guys look like you should get some sleep too."

"Yeah, we'll be heading to bed once we leave here." Stan stretching his own over his head with a yawn. "Night, kids."

"Yeah, you both have school in the morning." Ford waves at them as they ended the video chat then sits back in his seat, turning to Gideon. "We should be head home ourselves to get some sleep, want us to come back tomorrow?"

"If ya'll want to," Gideon shrugs, he's quite for moment then looks at Ford. "What happen to Bill? Is he gone?"

"He's taken care of, you won't have to worry about him anymore."

"We thought we didn't have to worry about him after the weirdmageddon." Gideon tells him with a frown. "But he's back out of no where, abducting me from my dressing room and now I'm in the hospital."

"That was my fault," Ford admits, looking down at his bandaged hands and twiddles his thumbs. "My mistake and I'm very sorry, so sorry Gideon. I'll try everything in my power to make sure it won't happen again."

Gideon doesn't say anything and the room grows quite until they hear a phone receive a text, Gideon turns and grabs his phone. He smiles when he reads the text.

"Are we going to tell them?" The boy asks, setting his phone down.

"Maybe when they come back next summer." Stan says, grunting as he got off the bed. "But right now, the only thing I'm worried about is getting home, taking a hot shower and heading to bed."

"We'll come back and see you tomorrow, dude!" Soos stands ups and heads towards the door. "I'll bring pizza since you don't like the food here."

"Get some rest." Ford pats the boy's shoulder as gently as he could. "And thank you, for everything."

"You're welcome, Stanford." Gideon gives him a smile in return. "I'll see ya all tomorrow."

Ford closes the door behind him, seeing Stanley and Soos talking about if they should open the Mystery Shack tomorrow or not.

"I dunno, Boss." Soos rubs his arm, looking at bit concern. "Don't you think you should take a break and recover? You haven't even left the hospital yet."

"One day is a day too much," Stan tells him in return, crossing his arms.

"Let Soos take care of it." Ford intervenes, watching Stan roll his eyes with annoyance. "And we can just relax and maybe watch some of our favorite shows together."

"Yeah, Mr. Pines. I can handle the shack and you can just spend time with your brother and focus on getting better." Soos beams. Stanley mutters a 'fine' and something about coming in and checking on him from time to time.

"There, the Mystery Shack is taken cared of, so let me take care of you." Ford sets his arm around his shoulder and leads Stan towards the lobby. "When we get home, I'll make us something to eat while you shower. Soos, are you joining us or are you heading home?"

"Um, I'm going to head home but I'll see you all tomorrow!" Soos tags along side of them, looping his arm around Stan as well. "We're all meeting here again tomorrow to check on Gideon again, aren't we?"

"Yeah, after the Shack closes." Stan tells him as they leave through the entrance. "I suppose, we could close a little earlier than normal for the brat."

As they part, they say their goodbyes and head to the car.

Ford drove this time.


	20. Chapter 20

Ford turns off the stove and sets the plates of food on the table, looking up at the clock. Stan has been in the bathroom for a while now and it's getting late. He rolls his sweater sleeves back down and looks at his brother's fez that still sat on the table, he wonders what could be taking the man so long.

Then again, tonight was rough. He's probably just enjoying a relaxing soak but if he takes too long, the food will start to get cold. Ford lets out a tired yawn, he could really use a relaxing hot bath too then bed. He smiles, remembering that Stan had told him that he wanted them both to share a bed tonight.

Ford looks towards the doorway, he supposes he should go check on the man. Could be having trouble getting in or out of the tub. With only socks on his feet, he walks towards the bathroom. The hallway floor was a bit cold on his feet but he didn't mind it, he could see that the bathroom light was still on.

"Stanley?" Ford knocks on the door, listening for any movement inside the room. When he doesn't hear anything, Ford cautiously opens the door slightly and says his brother's name once again but still gets no answer so he opens it completely to see Stan had fallen asleep in the tub. Ford lets out a small sigh of relief and walks over to him to tap his shoulder. "Ley, wake up before you give yourself a ear infection."

Stan stirs and opens an eyes with a tired groan.

"Ford?" He asks, turning his head to look at him and rub his eyes.

"Foods ready if you're still hungry." Ford kneels down and helps him sit up properly.

"I don't know if I want to eat anything. Might just put it up and save it for in the morning." Stan mutters, rubbing his face to wake himself up. "Probably going to just head to bed, how about you?"

"I'll come to bed after I bathe too." Ford rests his arms on the side of the tub, feeling some spots on his sleeves beginning to get slightly wet.

"Hmmm, just hop in with me and we can both just head to bed afterwards." Stan grins when he sees Ford's cheeks flush at the suggestion.

"Ley, no." He shakes his head, pulling his hands away but Stan grabs his wrist. "We both can't fit."

"Come on, sure we can." Stan gives him a mischievous smirk, pulling him closer. Ford grabs the other side of the tub to keep himself from being pulled in.

"I'm still dressed!" Ford looks up at him with pleading eyes, their faces only a few inches apart.

"Only wearing yer pants and sweater, just take them off and get in." Stan smiles at his brother's distress.

"I swear, if you drag me into this tub, I'll lock you outside in the cold." He warns him, reaching up to shove his face away but his hand is met with Stan's free one and he laces their fingers together. "I mean it, Stanley!"

"Yeah, I know." Stan lets go of his other arm and sets his hand on the back of Ford's head, wet fingers running through his hair. He leans up in the tub, letting his lips brush against his and smiles when he hears Ford's breath hitch in the back of his throat.

"You're an ass." Ford says against his mouth, trying to sound annoyed.

"You love it though." Stan pulls back to rub his brother's cheek with his thumb.

"HEYA FELLERS, WHATCHA UP TO?!" Stan jerks back suddenly, nearly jumping out of his skin as Ford jumps back and trips on the carpet, falling onto his rear. Both the men look towards the door to see a familiar lanky, old man smiling at them with a friendly wave. "Aren't ya both just adobzable."

Oh no. He saw. HE SAW.

Stan panics and frantically looking about him to come up with some sort of excuse, he coughs and rubs the back of his neck.

"M-Mcgucket, I thought ya went home hours ago, what are ya still doing here?!" Stan sweats as the scrawny man walks into the bathroom.

"I reckon' I done fell asleep in yer spare room and woke up hearing Stanferd hollering!" He turns to Ford and gives him a great big smile, practically beaming to see him. "I'm over the moon that yer back to yer old self, friend."

"I'm glad to see you too, Fiddleford." Ford returns a small smile of his own, he got back up onto his feet. "I...how are you doing? Your injuries, I mean."

Fiddleford looks down to his bandaged arm and holds it out for him to see.

"Yer brother done patched me up, I'm good as new." The man turns and looks at the clearly embarrassed man still sitting in the tub, Stan coughs and pulls back the shower curtain to at least cover himself a bit.

"Why don't you two have yer lil' reunion OUTSIDE the bathroom?"

"Ya don't have what I haven't already seen," Fiddleford replies, hopping up onto the bathroom counter and looking at both them with curious eyes. "Speaking of SEEING, what were ya'll doin' when I walked in? Don't normally see two brother's doing whatcha two were doin'."

Stan can feel his skin heating up with embarrassment now, Ford looks a little warm under the collar as well with the way he was tugging at it.

"Well, we were..." Ford looks at Stan, he couldn't really think of a excuse on the spot. The man had actually seen them both kiss, what could he say?

"Looks like ya both were giving each other some sugar." Fiddleford teases and pats Ford's back, watching the man nervously readjust his glasses. "Awfully sweet towards one another."

"Fiddleford, please." Ford turns to his friend and sets his hand on his arm. "You understand we don't want-"

"Anyone to know, I figgered as much!" Mcgucket pulls his legs up onto the counter with him and sets his hands on them, looking up at Ford from the under the brim of his hat. "Ya'll both full grown men, what ya'll do is nobody's business but yer own."

"It doesn't bother ya?" Stan asks, draining the tub but doesn't get out just yet.

"Not the weirdest thing I've seen in this here town." The small man shrugs his shoulders then friendly elbows Ford's arm. "Always reckon' ya weren't into gals, never shown interest in em'. Always fawning over that...thing."

"I wasn't fawning over him." Ford argues, crossing his arms in a huff but Fiddleford just laughs, patting his back.

"Were too, had a freakin' shine to him and all that." Fiddleford was right, of course but he didn't want to admit it. "Yer were smitten with the thing before ya knew his true nature, speaking of which, what ever happen to him?"

Ford looks to Stan and sees his brother just give a shrug, couldn't hurt to tell him since he was apart of this hellish night.

"He's put away downstairs in the lab," Ford tells him, leaning against the counter next to the man. "Using the same shields that keep him from getting into the shack or leaving Gravity Falls to keep him contained."

"Don't be cornering something that's a lot meaner than ya, Stanferd." Fiddleford warns, looking actually serious with him. "Never ends well with ya."

"I'll take extra precautions to make sure he doesn't get loose and hurt anyone else." He explains, going into all the details of the containment chamber he was using and how it worked but pauses in the middle of his rant when he feels the small man grab his hand and turns to look at him.

Fiddleford is looking at him with concern and he turns away from him again to look at the floor.

"Yer both my friends, I don't want any of y'all to get hurt." Mcgucket frowns, hopping down from the counter and takes off his hat, holding it close to his body. "That thing has cause so much pain and sufferin', even after we all thought it was gone fer good."

"I'll be careful this time." Ford promises but it doesn't look like that pleases the other man, instead Fiddleford is fiddling with the bandages on his arm and guilt riddles him, he caused those injuries. Ford grows quiet and looks away from them both. Everything that's happened tonight was because of him, none of this would have happen if he just left things alone but...that would mean Bill would have still been in his brother's head. He couldn't bring himself to regret removing him but it caused so many innocent people to get hurt.

"Quit yer sulking, Ford. Jeez, I can practically feel yer self-loathing from over here." Stan mutters, wrapping a towel around himself and gets out of the tub. He walks over to them, twisting his pinkie in his ear. "What's done is done, everything's fine. So what, we have a little demon in the basement, as long as ya keep him in check, it'll be fine. Now if you both don't mind, I'm going to bed. I'll just change in the bedroom."

Stan grabs his clothes from off the counter and leaves the two alone in the cold bathroom, Ford clears his throat and looks up to his friend again. He still has the worried expression on his face so he leans off the counter and kneels down, pulling him into a tight hug. The small man doesn't even hesitate to hug him back and pulls away a moment after.

"I suppose I should be gettin' on home, the wife will be worried sick if I'm gone fer too long." For a moment, Ford is confused until he realized, oh, he meant the raccoon. He laughs and pats his friend's back, pulling back himself and looking at his watch.

"It's really late, why don't you stay with us until the morning?" Ford offers but the man shakes his head and tells him he doesn't think he could sleep, knowing Bill was on the property. Ford couldn't blame him so he walks him to the door and gives him a spare coat he kept in the closet. "Want me to drive you home?"

"Nah, I can walk." Fiddleford waves his goodbyes and starts walking towards town, Ford stands beside the door watching him for a moment before closing the door. It was getting really late, it was nearly one in the morning.

After putting up all the food he had prepared, Ford pulls off his glasses and rubs his eyes, maybe he should go downstairs and check on Bill? No, he's fine where he is. No way he's getting out, specially if he's got amnesia. But then he remembers the look of concern on his friend's face and frowns, he supposes it couldn't hurt to check.

"Are ya going to stand there all night or are ya going to come to bed?" Ford looks over his shoulder to see Stan wearing his normal tank top and boxer shorts, scratching his back and yawning.

"Thought you went to bed already?" Ford turns towards him and sees that the man hadn't dried off properly at all, his hair was still wet even. "You must be freezing right now."

"I was just wait for ya, is all." Stan shrugs with a roll of his eyes, Ford smiles and walks over to his brother.

"I'll be back in a bit, I was just going to go down to the lab and check on Bill."

"Don't get obsessive over him."

"I'm not going to, I just want to make sure he's locked in tight." Ford tells him, punching in the sequence and opens the door to the lab. "Head to bed and I'll be back up in a bit."

Stan grunts in response and pats his brother's shoulder.

"Don't take forever." He tells him, heading back towards his-no, their room. Ford watches him head in before walking down towards the lab.

It doesn't take long to make sure Bill was secure, he still can't remember anything and Ford supposes that's a good thing. Bill floats around in his chamber and watches Ford move around the lab, asks him what's he doing, where he was and where was his 'friend that looked like him went'.

Ford tries not to talk to him much, giving him simple yes or no answers as he tidies up the mess around the lab.

"Where are you going?" He hears Bill asks, Ford looks over to the floating creature and looks towards the ceiling with a sigh. "Are you tired? You look really tired."

"Yes, I am tired." Ford replies, rubbing his aching eyes. "I'm heading to bed."

"Oh! See you tomorrow then!" The chirper tone in his voice has Ford on edge, it reminds him of the time he and Bill spent together when he thought they were friends and could trust him. "Night!"

Ford couldn't let him put in him in a false sense of security, not again. He had to keep his guard up even if the dream demon couldn't remember anything, at any given moment that could change and Bill could use it to against them.

"...Goodnight, Bill." Ford turns off the lights to the lab and feels an eye on his back as he heads towards the door, he locks the lab's door and heads back upstairs.

Stan's got to be asleep by now, it's nearly two in the morning.

He opens the bedroom door, feeling warmth from the furnace and sees Stan bundle up under his covers. Ford closes the door and walks over to the bed, sitting on the edge and starts to pull his socks off.

"Wondering when ya get back, what took ya so long?" He hears Stan shifts and feels a hand on his back. "Jeez Ford, yer freezing."

Ford feels his brother pull back the blankets for him, he takes off his glasses and turns to settle down as well, pulling the blankets over himself and scoots closer to Stanley.

"Sorry, I couldn't stand seeing the lab in such a mess." He mutters, laying on his side and stares at his brother's tired face. "Go back to sleep."

Ford closes his own eyes, feeling Stan's arms wrap around him and scoots closer to him. He smiles when he feels his breath on his face and opens his eyes to see Stan staring at him.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing..." Stan shakes his head slightly and presses his forehead against his brother's. Ford reaches up and rests his hand against his neck, to comfort him. "It's just been a while since we were this close, I've missed it."

Ford hums in agreement, closes his eyes again and lets his hand slip from his cheek to rest against his neck. Stan moves again, pressing at kiss to his forehead and slips a hand slip under his sweater and against his back.

"Your hand is cold." Ford mutters, feeling him snicker against his forehead.

"Did you get a chance to bathe?" Stan asks, his hair was back to it's normal softness and smells like cinnamon.

"Down in the lab, took a quick one." He feels Stan tracing a scar on his lower back and begins to feel self-conscious but doesn't pull Stan's hand away. His hand moves to his upper back and feels the imperfections in his skin, caressing each spot tenderly. Ford shallows thickly, Stan was just exploring his body and not even in a perverse way.

Ford never felt insecure about his scars before but then again, Ford hardly wore anything that shown them or let Stan this close enough to them before either.

"Do ya want me to stop?" His hand pauses and Stan pulls back to see his face, Ford opens his eyes.

"No, you're fine." Ford forces himself to relax and slips his leg over Stan's hip, smiles to himself when he feels the other shiver though he hopes he isn't making him uncomfortable. "Is this fine?"

"Yer fine, sixer." They both settle down and it isn't took long until he hears Stan's breathing even out and fall asleep. Ford was always jealous of how quickly his brother could fall asleep, it always took him forever but with weight of his brother's arms around him, he couldn't exactly toss and turn like he normally would.

Ford stares off at the wall behind Stan and watches how the shadows dance off the wallpaper. His eyes grow heavy and finally falls asleep, listening to the other's breathing.


	21. Chapter 21

Stan wakes up the next morning unable to move his arms and legs, feeling some kind of weight on him and it's very warm. The groggy man moves his head and feels his nose brush against soft hair and opens his eyes to see Ford resting with his face against his chest.

Slowly he detangles himself from his brother's arms and gets up out of bed to use the restroom, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. His body ached terribly and he can feel his neck throb so he rubs the tender skin, maybe it's a stay in bed kind of day?

After his finishes his bathroom business, Stan hears Soos giving a tour in the distance and heads back towards his room. He'll make breakfast later on when the business slows, he kind of feels like sleeping more anyway and Ford's face while he was sleeping was too cute to pass up. Stan closes his door and sees Ford has took his pillow and was now holding it to his chest, his face pressing against it. The sight has Stan smiles and wonders back over to the bed, crawling onto the mattress and running his hand over his brother's hip as he leans down and kisses the side of his face.

Ford makes a noise and turning his head towards him, opening an eye and gives him a tired smile.

"Morning," He tells Stan as he closes his eyes again and yawns. "What time is it?"

"Not even nine yet." Stan says and leans back so his brother can sit up, rubbing his eyes and reaches for his glasses.

"I should probably go down to the lab and check on Bill." Ford mutters tiredly and goes to get up but Stan grabs the back of his sweater and pulls him back against his chest. Stan presses his face against the collar of his brother's sweater, ignoring the complaints and wraps his arms around his body. "Stan."

"Come on, sixer. Just stay in bed with me, you won't come back up if ya go down there." Stan lifts his head and kisses behind his ear, wanting to hold him for a little while longer.

"You know I have to." Ford argues but leans his head to the side for him anyway, closing his eyes with a sigh. Stan pulls away but doesn't let go just yet.

"Will ya come back to bed after ya check on the lil' monster?" Stan asks, rubbing the his chest with a thumb, Ford turns and looks at him.

"Stan, I have other projects-"

"For me? Just until you heal, will you take a break and rest with me?" Ford turns and looks at his brother, thinking for a few moment before giving him a slight nod.

"I'll come right back up." Ford caves with a sigh.

"And you'll put all yer little nerdy projects on hold and rest until yer better?" Stan asks, letting him go but letting his hand linger on his arm. Ford turns to look at his brother and gives him a face of annoyance but sees that the other was being very serious with him. "Just for a few days, you can take a break for a few day, it won't kill ya. I'll take care of us both, I'll feed ya and we can both just relax."

"You're starting to sound like mom used to when she got onto me for staying up all night studying." Ford smiles amusedly, turning to face him and touches the side of his cheek, letting his fingers caress over the stubble that covers his brother's jaw.

"Well someone's got to stop ya from overworking yourself." Stan smiles, pats and then shoves his shoulder. "Now hurry back, I'll start breakfast if yer hungry."

Ford huffs and getting up, ruffling his own hair. He stretches and pops his back, tiredly reaching for his boots.

"How's your neck, Ley?" Ford asks, standing back up when he's done and looks at his brother from over his shoulder then around the room, wondering where he had last had his coat.

"It's fine," Stan rubs his throat, it still aches a bit but it was bearable because of the medication he was proscribed. "What are ya looking for?"

"Oh, my coat. I don't remember where I left it." Ford tries to retrace his steps from the night before he feels a cool hand touch the back of his neck, Stan brushes his hair away from his neck and presses a kiss against it.

"I'll help ya look for it after you come back up, maybe you left it down there or something." Stan follows him to the door.

"Maybe but I won't be long. If I'm down there for more than ten minutes, just come and get me."

~*~

"You seem to be looking a lot better today, did you sleep well?" Bill asks, closer to the window of the chamber so he could watch Ford check his vitals and make sure the reinforced locks were in place.

Ford glances at the floating creature and only nods in response, standing back up and making a quick glance around his lab.

"Are you searching for something?" He hears Bill ask, he turns back to him.

"Yes...just my coat, I don't remember wearing it down here but can't seem to find it anywhere." Ford hesitates saying, not really wanting to talk to him longer than he had to.

"The tan looking one that you were wearing last night when you brought me here?" Ford bites the inside of his lip and nods. "You weren't wearing it when you came down here last night to check on me, you just have left it upstairs."

The only place he was last night was the kitchen and the bathroom, he wasn't wearing it in the bathroom because he could remember his brother trying to pull him into the tub with him so he just have...

Oh! He left it on one of the chairs in the kitchen while he was cooking last night, how could he have forgot? Ford smacks himself on the side of the head for the forgetfulness.

"Did you just remember where it was?"

"Yes, in the kitchen. I can't believe I forgot-" Ford cuts himself off and looks back towards Bill, hating how easy it was to talk to him again now that he wasn't plotting against them. He shakes his head with a frown and turns back to check the last remaining things before he heads back upstairs.

"What's wrong?" Bill asks, tapping on the glass. Ford doesn't answer him this time, just finishes what he's doing and dusting off his pants. "Are you angry with me? You don't seem like you like talking to me, did I do something wrong?"

Ford feels the urge to snap at him, to tell him he was a menace that nearly destroyed their whole town and ruin their lives but he bites his tongue. Last thing he needs is to trigger Bill into regaining his memories, so he stays quiet and lets out a deep sigh, shaking his head.

"No, I'm just really busy." Ford lets out a stressed breath and looks at the time, he's been down here for nearly seven minutes. He should probably head back up soon or Stan will come down looking for him.

"Are you leaving again?"

"Yes, my bro-I'm needed upstairs." Ford replies, heading over to the door and turning back to look at his old muse. "I'll be back down here sometime tonight, I want you to behave while I'm gone."

"Okay. I will, Fordsie." The nickname was enough to make his blood run cold, his hand grips the handle tightly and his face must have given away this sudden shock because Bill tilts to the side like a dog would tilt it's head when it's confused. "Did I say something wrong? Do you not like nicknames?"

No, nicknames didn't bother him at all. It's just Ford never told Bill his name after the accident, he remembered it.

"No, it's...fine." He shakes his head, something like remembering his name shouldn't bother him at all. It wasn't anything important. "But...just behave."

Ford turns away from the floating creature to face the door to hide his expression and walks through it quickly, closing the door behind him and leaning against it. The man lets out a straggle breath and leans his head back against the door.

It was just your name, Ford. Relax. He closes his eyes and lets out a more relaxed breath, removing his glass and rubbing his face. Get ahold of yourself, your brother is waiting for you upstairs.

And even if Bill did regain all his memories, he's not going anywhere. There's no way he can get out of the chamber without someone opening it from the outside and he was the only one who knew how to open it. But still, no putting his guard down. Not with Bill, not ever again.

"Stanford?" He hears and looks up to see Stanley standing over by the elevator. "What's taking ya so long, why are ya leaning against the door like that?"

The man steps away from the elevator and crosses his arms, looking a bit worried.

"I'm fine, I guess everything from last night has just finally caught up to me is all." Ford leans off the door and walks towards his brother, placing his glasses back on his face. "Maybe I just need something to eat?"

"Well if you finally get back up here, we can get ready to eat. Breakfast is about done, I made some bacon and eggs." Stan tells him and loops his arm around the other's neck, walking him back into the elevator. "Oh and I found yer coat, it's was setting on the back of a dinning chair. Must have left it there last night."

"Yeah, I remembered just a moment ago." Ford laughs softly to himself, looking back towards his lab. It's probably best to tell Stan if he wants this relationship to work, no more secrets. "But um, there's something else I need to tell you."

"What's that?" Stan asks, pressing the up button and watching the door close on them.

"Bill just called me by that nickname he always calls me."

"Which one? He had a ton for ya." Stan huffs, patting his shoulder.

"Fordsie, I haven't even told him my name yet so I'm afraid he's starting to remember."

"So what if he remembers?" Stan shrugs, pulling his arm away and crosses his arms over his chest. "He's locked up tight, ain't he?"

"Yes but this is Bill we're talking about." Ford points out as the elevator door opens and they head towards the door leading up to the shack. Hopefully most of the tourists were gone by now because Stan wasn't really fond of the idea of his customers seeing him in his boxers. Ford checks the monitors beside the concealed door to make sure the gift shop was at least empty and sure enough, the shop was clear so they walk out and head towards the kitchen.

"Smells good, Stanley." Ford tells his brother, watching Stan head back to the stove to turn the burner back on. The older twin picks up his coat and swings it over his shoulders to put it back on, straightening it out when the man pauses when he looks at Stan.

At his shoulder.

The tattoo barely peek out from under his brother's tank top and Ford feels the urge to touch it but doesn't know how Stan would react.

"Go ahead and plant yerself in a chair, this shouldn't take much longer." Stan says when he sees Ford still standing up and gawking at him for some reason, he turns back to his cooking to crack an egg into the pan. "How do ya want yer eggs?"

"Over-easy." He hears Ford reply but his voice sounds a lot closer now and feels arms wrap around his front and feels his brother's face against his shoulder. Stan turns his head to question the other when he notices Ford is, what he guesses, staring at his tattoo.

"Don't ya start with that self-loathing nonsense, got me?" Stan mutters, turning back to the stove and looks down at his brother's arms, enjoying the feeling of them around him snugly. "What's in the past should stay in the past, you should drop it and move on."

"I know," He hears Ford lick his lips and feels his face against his shoulder, pressing butterfly like kisses barley against the old mark. "I'm still sorry it happen."

"And there's no way of changing it, besides I've already forgiven ya." Stan replies, flipping the egg and feels his brother's fingers gripping the front of his shirt. He rests a free hand on top of one of Ford's, rubbing his knuckles with his thumb and smiles. "Besides it could have been worse, could have looked like yours."

Ford reaches up and pinches one of Stan's nips through his shirt, earning startled gasp from the man cooking and laugh in return but Stan leans back against Ford and gives him a warning glare.

"Ya might not want to start something if yer not ready to follow through, sixer." Stan light-heartedly warns, reaching up to grasp his brother's hand and holds it hostage. The threat sends a feeling of excitement up Ford's spine but before the man has a chance to reply, he hears someone walk through the doorway behind them and freezes up entirely.

"Hey Mr. Pines, good to see you and your bro getting along!" Ford nearly jumps out of his skin, pulling his hands away and hears Stan chuckle and turn back to his cook. Soos takes off Stan's fez, setting it down and sits at the table. "Why don't ya sit down with me, Mr. Ford. You still look very pale."

"I bet he does," Stan laughs and finishes up to meal, seeing Ford gives him an glare of his own before sitting down next to the handyman. "Hey, Soos. I made enough for ya too, if yer hungry."

"I'm starving!" The large man beams, thanking his boss as he made plates for all of them. "Has Wendy shown up for her shift yet? It's still pretty early."

"Nah, I called her earlier and told her since we're closing early today to visit the boy in the hospital that she didn't need to come in." Stan answers, sitting down next to his brother. The twin gives his flushing brother a smile and reassuringly pats his thigh under the table, Ford supposes they don't have to worry about Soos. The man probably wouldn't care if he found out about them, Soos wasn't the kind of man to be harsh and judge someone, at least he's never seen him do it.

Once breakfast was done, Stan waves bye to Soos, who was leaving to start another tour, putting up all the leftovers and gathers the dishes, setting them in the sink.

Stan turns on the water to start washing them when he feels a familiar pair of hands on his hips this time and pair of lips against his ear.

"You know, I've been ready to follow through for a very long time, Stanley." Stan's breath catches his throat and looks at him from over his shoulder, Ford wasn't looking at him but he could tell the man was really flush in his cheeks. Stan puts the plate he's holding back down and turns around in his brother's arms, reaching up to cup the sides of his face.

"You sure?" Stan asks and makes him look him in the eyes, Ford has to be hundred percent sure about this. Ford gives him a little nods but Stan doesn't take that for answer. "I want to hear ya say it, Ford. This isn't something to take lightly, are you sure?"

"Yes Stan, I really want to. With you." Ford reassures him with a smile, Stan returns it with one of his own and presses a quick kiss to Ford's mouth.

"Alright but if we're going to do this, we gotta be quick." Stan tells him, pulling back and turning off the sink.

"Quick?" Like right now?

"Yeah, we've got things we need to do today but I'm pretty sure we can squeeze in a quickie." Stan walks past him, grabbing Ford's rear as he did and gives it a squeeze. Ford jumps at the action and listens to Stan laugh at his reaction, looking back at him from over his shoulder. "You should probably follow me to the room instead of just standing there."

Okay, so they're are going to do this now.

Ford gives a little nod and follows right behind him.


	22. Chapter 22

Stan presses Ford up against the door the moment they're both inside the bedroom, using his own body to hold him there while he invades the other's mouth heatedly with his tongue. Ford takes a shuttering breath through his nose and moans softly against his brother's mouth, tilting his head to the side to properly return the kiss. Calloused hands hold him by his hips and a leg slips in between his own, rubbing against his lower regions and causing him to shiver.

Ford lets out a soft sigh when Stan pulls away to suck on his neck, shrugging his brother tan coat off his shoulders, letting it fall to the floor and sets his hands back on his hips. Stan nips at the skin peeking out from under the collar of the sweater and sees a part of ugly tattoo his brother had regrettably got when he was younger. He nips at it with a amused smirk, his fingers slipping up under Ford's sweater and enjoys the shiver his cold fingers cause.

With little hesitance, Ford rubs up against his leg and running one hand through Stan's hair as the other reach down and locked the bedroom door.

Better do it now than to forget it in the heat of the moment.

Stan kisses back up his jaw and smiles his ear. "Need ya to loose the clothes."

Ford nods and pushes Stan back just enough to pulls off his sweater, dropping it down at their feet. Stan's eyes are drawn to each and every scar that decorate his brother's chest and moves his hands up to run over them with gentle touches.

"They're ugly." Ford says, wrapping his arms around his neck and pulling him back into another kiss. Stan scoffs against his lips and rubs his brother's nipples with his thumbs, earning a little gasp.

"So is my gut but I'm not feeling self-conscious about it." At least, not with Ford. Stan pulls away and leans down to pepper each one of the scars on his brother's chest with a tender kiss, wanting to melt all his brother's insecurities away. "I like 'em, think they're sexy and builds character."

"Has your eyesight gone bad too?" Ford teases and leans his head back against the door with a sigh when Stan takes a perk nipple into his mouth, sucking and swirling around it the tip of his tongue. He pulls away with a wet pop and after standing up again, grabs the front of Ford's pants.

"Shut yer trap," Stan pecks his lips and walks backwards, dragging his brother along with him. Ford gives him a look and shoves him back onto the bed and straddles his lap, leaning down and kisses him more confidently. Ford lets his own hands explore under Stan's thin shirt, letting his fingers caress the soft skin of his belly and sucks on his bottom lip. "Eager, aren't ya?"

Ford hums in reply, framing his brother's face with his hands and enjoys loving on his face with each tender kiss. Stan runs his hands over his brother's hips and teases the skin under the waist of his pants with redrawing touches before slipping them under and just grabbing Ford's ass firmly. The man pauses at the sudden action but if it bothers him, he doesn't voice it.

Stan gives his brother a squeeze and feels Ford laugh above him, smiling against his lips. Stan runs one hand up his back and buries it in Ford's soft hair as the other continues to fondle Ford's ass, fingers exploring pass his cheeks to rub against the rim of his entrance. Ford moans, lifting his rear up against those fingers and pulls back to look down at him.

"You've done this before, right?" Ford asks, using his forearms to support himself up.

"You know I lost my v-card a long time ago." Stan laughs.

"I know, I meant with a man." Ford points out and shivers when the tip of Stan's finger barley breaches him. "Have you ever slept with a man before?"

"Only once but I don't want to bring that up." Stan frowns, looking away from him as he spoke. "Kind of a sore spot, if ya catch my drift."

"But do you have anything like condoms or lube, things that would make this go a lot smoother." Ford asks.

"Both actually, under my bed." Stan points out, pulling his hand out free his pants and pats his lower back for him to get up. Ford stands up and watches Stan roll over, reaching under the bed before sitting back up and holds up two condoms and a bottle of lube. "Are these what ya need?"

"Why two condoms though?"

"Makes clean up a lot easier if we both wear one," He shrugs, flicking his eyes down to Ford's obvious bulge in the front of his pants and rubs the front of his own shorts. "Wanna lose yer pants and come here?"

Ford grabs the front of his pants and pulls them down, kicking them aside and loops his thumbs under the waistband of his underwear. He looks at Stan, who was watching eagerly and motions for him to continue. Ford feels his face heat up but slowly pushes them down, letting them fall down to his ankles and stares down at his feet, unable to look back up at Stan.

Ford doesn't know where the sudden shyness came from but he's never been this exposed in front of someone before, at least not like this. What he and Bill had before was different and never had a sexual undertone like this, never was this...intimate.

"You okay, sixer?" He hears his brother say and feels a hand take one of his, rubbing his knuckles comfortingly. "We can always stop if you're not ready."

"No, no. I'm fine, just give me a moment to gain some confidence." Ford laughs awkwardly and looks down towards his erect cock, loosely wrapping his hand around it and looks back up to Stan, giving him a shy smile. "Maybe if you lost some of your clothing, I would feel a lot better."

"Damn Ford, all ya had to do was ask." Stan chuckles, taking his tank top off and as he gets up to take off his boxer shorts, he feels a hand on his shoulder and it has him sit back down. Ford drops onto his knees in front of him, making him draw in a breath as Ford pulls the front of his boxers down and pulls his erection free. "You don't have to do tha-"

"I want to." Ford replies before he can finish and stroking him experimentally, watching his hand move around the now weeping cock. Stan leans back on the palms of his hands to take in the sight, a sight he never thought he would ever see. Oh shit, Ford was on his knees in front of him with his cock in his hand, wanting to give him a hand job. At least that's what he thought until Ford dips his head and flicks his tongue in a teasing lick against the underside of his shaft, working his way up from the base to the head. "I'm not the most experienced person you've probably met but I shouldn't be too bad."

"I don't care if yer terrible, got to practice to get better." Stan could barely repress the light shiver and runs a hand through Ford's hair fondly. Ford smiles up at him and looks back at the hard on in his hand, leaning in and flicking his tongue against the hot skin. He rubs the tip with the pad of his thumb and sucks at the base where it meets his balls, moving lower to suck on them as well and Stan swears, he sees fireworks behind his eyelids.

Stan lets out a soft moan, rubbing the back of his brother's skull as the other move up to take the head into his mouth and flicking the tip of his tongue over the urethral opening then rubs it against the frenulum. Ford's hand rest on his thighs to up himself up as he begins to move his mouth up and down on the shaft, moaning softly in the back of his throat. The tip reaches back too far and it causes the man to gag a little, causing Stan to push him back slightly.

"Easy, don't push yourself too much." Ford peers up at Stan through his lashes, sucking the head of his erection before pulling back and licking the underside again, earning quite a few choice words from the man above him. Ford smiles and takes him back into his mouth, hollowing his cheeks as he sucks and lowers his head again to take in more. "Jeez, Ford."

Stan pants, trying his best not to yank on any of Ford's hair. He watches the other pull back and circles his tongue around the tip, collecting the precum there. Stan holds the back of his hand to his mouth to keep himself from moaning too loudly, breathing heavily as his brother began to bob his head again at a steady pace.

"Where did ya learn to suck dick?" Stan pants, removing his hand from his mouth.

"I've never done this before." Ford answers him truthfully, continuing to just stroke him in his hand and leans forward to kiss the pudge of Stan's belly. "Never had the chance to be this intimate with anyone while I was inside the portal and haven't really been concerned about it since I got back."

"Whoa, whoa." Stan shakes his head and holds his hands up to Ford so the man would stop and looks at him with a confused look on his face. "Yer telling me, you're in yer sixties and still haven't had yer cherry popped yet? Why haven't ya told me?"

"Because I didn't think it was important." Ford shrugs, a few days ago he didn't even think Stan would return his feelings so why would he tell his twin brother something like he's still a virgin? The way Stan's staring at him has the man turning red. "What?"

"So I'm going to be yer first?"

"Yes, Stanley." Ford watches him break into a goofy grin, letting his fingers run through his fluffy hair.

"Like first-first?" Stan repeats, sitting up and Ford swears, he can see his eyes sparkle at the thought.

"Not my first kiss." Ford says, getting back onto his feet and settles onto Stan's lap, letting his arms rest around his shoulders. He presses his lips against his brother's, sucking on the bottom lip before pulling back to look at Stan again.

"Who was yer first kiss then?" Stan asks, tilting his head to the side and raises a brow. "Was it Mcgucket?"

"No, it wasn't Fiddleford." Ford shakes his head amusingly, though he's thought about kissing his former lab assistant in the past, they never really got the chance before everything went wrong and Fiddleford had enough and left. "It was a man I met while dimension jumping, we were making out in his ship and his poor grandson caught us."

"Sounds like a fun time." Stan laughs, grabbing Ford's rear and kisses along his jaw.

"The boy was freaking out about something so we didn't really get past just kissing." Ford tells him, leaning his head back so Stan could the underside of his jaw. Stan just hums in reply, not really wanting to talk about this guy from another dimension anymore. He nuzzles against Ford's neck and nips at the skin there, feeling the soft moan bubble up from the back of his throat. Stan hears his name slip from the other man's lips and feels Ford roll his hips, his weeping erection rubbing up against his own. Stan groans against his neck, wrapping his hand around both and strokes them both in unison, making Ford gasp.

"Eager, aren't ya?" Unable to answer properly, Ford gives a slight nod. Stan snickers against his neck and wonders if his brother's a screamer, most likely not but he enjoys the idea of having to keep Ford silent by shoving his tongue down his throat. He doesn't think Ford would enjoy the idea of being gagged by anything, probably tear him a new one if he even tried but hey, he wasn't against trying new things. Maybe Ford isn't either.

Stan kisses down his neck to his collarbone, paying special attention to all the scars and curiously flicks his tongue against his nipple. Ford presses his face to his hair abc sighs, letting his hand slip down to his neck.

"Little bit faster," Ford asks the younger twin. Stan picks up the pace and lifts his head again to meet Ford's lips. Ford moans softly which Stan returns with one of his own, running his tongue over his bottom lip. "Stanley."

Stan's heat is beating in his ears, throbbing loudly and pulls the man above him into a deeper kiss. He wants to hear him moan his name again. No, he wants to hear Ford scream it. Stan slips his tongue past his lips and runs it over his brother's, speeding up the pace on their cocks, reducing them both into a panting mess. Moans begin to fall from their lips, Ford's legs begins to shake on top of his own and Stan can tell he was close.

He takes his hands off their cocks and reaches for the bottle of lube, Ford groans at the lack of friction but reaches for the two rubbers, making sure that they're rolled on properly before Stan has him leaning forward in his lap and feels a cold finger against his entrance.

"This might feel a little awkward." Stan tells him, remembering his first time being prepped. Ford just nods and rests arms around his neck, Stan presses a slippery finger inside him. The noise that escapes Ford's throat has Stan's head spinning and goes straight to his dick, pressing their lips together again. He moves his finger and pulls it out to add another along side it, suck on Ford's bottom lip. "Hurting any?"

"No, just weird." He pants, feeling Stan curl his fingers and stretch him. Ford arches his back with a sweet sigh, presses his hips back against his fingers and feels a burning need for more. "Hurry, Stan. We can't be too long, someone will come looking for us."

"Hold yer horses, sixer. Don't want ya to be hurting during yer first time." Stan rubs his back and adds a third finger, thrusting them in deeply and has Ford making a startled noise. Ford jerks his head back and gasps loudly after feeling Stan brushing against his prostate, hips jerking and tightening around his fingers. "Easy."

"I think that should be enough, I'm ready." Ford rolls his hips again, more than eager to feel something more than just those fingers inside him. "How do you want to do this?"

"What do ya mean?"

"Position." Ford replies, rubbing just under his ears. Stan thinks for a moment before pulling his fingers free from him.

"Lay down on yer side." Stan pats his back and Ford crawls over him to do what he's asked. He lays down on his side, grabbing a pillow to rest his head on and feels Stan lift leg up, hooking his arm under it to hold it. Ford looks over his shoulder to watch his brother as he position himself up to his entrance and slowly eases himself inside. Stan holds him at his waist, pressing his face against the back of his brother's neck and softly moans. "So warm and tight, sixer."

The comment has the older twin tighten around him and Stan shivers at the sudden vice around his cock, causing Stan to curse under his breath. Ford pushes back against him and reaches back to tangle his hand in Stan's hair.

"Relax or I can't move." He laughs, tenderly rubbing his hips to ease the tension in brother's muscles. Ford gives a little nod and forces himself to relax, letting out a shuttering breath. Stan slides his hand down between the dip between his thigh and his groin, wrapping his hand around his flushed cock. Stan thrusts slowly while stroking Ford at the same pace, Ford pants softly as he grabs the hand around his cock, eyes falling closed and thrusts back onto Stan.

"Feels so...good." Ford moans, turning his head to kiss him, sucking on his lip and lets Stan slip his tongue into his mouth. Stan wraps his arm around his waist with one arm while the other still held his leg up and thrusts earnestly, his brother's moans raising in volume.

Ah, so Ford is loud in bed. Stan smiles against his lips and thrust his tongue to silence his noises. The bed starts to rock underneath them, the wood frame squeaking with their movement and suddenly, Ford cums inside the condom hard and groans against his lips.

Stan slows his movements and reaches up to rub his chest, pulling back from panting lips to kiss his temple. Ford shakes from over stimulation, resting his head against the pillow beneath them and grabs Stan's hand that was rubbing his chest, lacing their fingers together.

"I've gotcha," Stan whispers, kissing along his ear. He knew he wouldn't last long, Stan could tell from the early signs that Ford was close and slowly began to pick up his pace again. "Hold on a little bit longer for me."

"Agh! Stan, please!" Ford presses his face against the pillow, his fingers tighten on Stan's hand. "D-don't stop, love this. Mmmmm, faster!"

Holy cow, Stan managed to reduce the brainiac into a babbling mess.

"I'm close, Stanford." He moans against his neck, nipping at the skin again and grinding against him. "So, so-ngh!"

Stan tenses up against him and comes inside the condom, they both collapse against the bed. Ford groans and feels the other slip out of him, tossing the used rubber away. He turns to Ford and rubs his shoulder, peeling his condom off, throwing away with the other.

"Do...you have anything to clean...down there?" Ford asks breathlessly, feeling his brother shift and digs under his bed.

"Have some wet-wipes, will that work?"

"You...seem to be awfully prepared." Ford raises a questioning brow at him, staring down at the package of wipes in his hand.

"A man gets lonely sometimes, what do ya want from me?" Stan huffs with a roll of his eyes and tosses them at him. Ford catches them out of the air and takes one out, cleaning himself quickly. "How was it, yer first time?"

"...Amazing, Stanley." Ford smiles, he leans over and kisses him again. "Definitely want to do that with you again."

Stan smiles and grabs his sweater, throwing it in his face. "Now get dressed, we got a bratty kid to visit."


	23. Chapter 23

Gideon and Ford seem to be getting along very well, both currently caught up in their conversation that everyone else in the room just seem to be forgotten. They're both talking about Ford's work and his journals, if Ford was going to continue his work or was he going to do something else with his life, something Stan would very much like to talk about with his brother later on when they're at home.

He loves Ford and he's happy that researching supernatural was something Ford really enjoyed but they're getting older and Stan nearly lost his brother just yesterday, he doesn't want to go through that again. Stan sits back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest and listens to the two nerds chatting away about some sort of duck-like beaver up stream in the hills.

"Maybe if you and Dipper can manage to get along and after you're well again, you both can join in my field work." Ford tells the boy, looking over briefly to Stan before continuing. "But nothing too extreme or dangerous, you're both still young and I'll have to approval from both your father and Stan before we do anything."

"I'm sure me and Dipper won't bump heads...too much. The boy has, after all, the same interests in the strange and weird as I do." Gideon shrugs his shoulders, he did tell Mabel he would try his best to get along with her brother and that seem to make the girl really happy. "Regardless, I'll be on my best behavior."

At this Stan laughs and shakes his head at the boy, earning a box of tissues to the head.

"We're in a hospital, no fighting." Ford picks up the tissue box and sets it back onto the side table, he glances at his brother and gives him a look that tells him to be good.

"Hey I am being good, the brat is the one throwing crap." Stan says in defense, holding his hands up and pointing at the bedridden boy.

"You're egging him on. So stop your teasing, the boy is injured after all." Ford lectures, sitting back in his seat. Stan rolls his eyes at him but feels a pat of his hand on his shoulder and looks back towards his brother, who was giving a tender look of affection. The younger twin crosses his arms and leans back in his chair with a huff but gives Gideon a half-hearted apology, muttering under his breath.

"At least someone's keeping him out of trouble." Gideon smirks, laying back onto his pillow. "About time you're put him on a leash."

"That goes for you too, Gideon." Ford tells him, watching the boy give a groan of his own. "You two ought to behave until you're both feeling better."

"I'll start feeling better once I'm outta here and getting some decent food!" Gideon complains, pointing at the forgotten tray of food on the table to the side with his thumb. "Have you seen what they serve folk here? It's absolute slop!"

"Are you telling me you haven't eaten since you've got here?" Ford asks, looking sternly at the boy. "You've got to eat, your body needs-"

"I know, I know!" The boy holds his hands up in defense, watching Ford cross his arms. "I sent my father to fetch something for me, so don't worry about that."

Ford stares at him for a couple of moments before sighing and ruffles his hair.

"So how is your back?" Ford questions, looking at the boy's clipboard that hung at the foot of the bed. It says it'll take time to heal and mostly likely leave scars but he was wondering how if Gideon was feeling any pain. "Hurting any?"

"Nope, the docs have me taking some pretty decent painkillers. I feel a sharp ache now and then but other than that, I'm fine." He answers him, slightly shrugging his shoulders and looks away with a sorrowful expression on his face. "But...I have no idea when I'm going to be able to do my shows again."

"I'm sure you'll be up on yer feet and pestering folks out of their money in no time." Stan says, trying to ease the boy's worries a little but Gideon just gives a huff in reply and grows more quiet. Stan looks up towards Ford for help but the man is being quiet too, neither of them knew how to exactly comfort the boy because it could be a while before he could preform again. Even when Gideon gets all his treatments and finally gets out of the hospital, he'll still need some physical therapy; It could take months before Gideon was fully recovered again.

The room grows really silent and tension fills the air. Ford fidgets in his seat and twiddles his thumbs nervously, wrecking his brain with someway to comfort the boy.

"Hey dudes, I brought some pizza!" They all hear and look up to see Soos walking through the door with a box in his hands. Of course, the man is all smiles as always and holds the box up for them to see. "It's just cheese since I didn't know what the little dude preferred and I figured he would be wanting some real food."

"Thank you, Soos." Ford smiles as the man sits the box on the other table and offers a slice to boy. "We were wondering where you where, you did leave the same time we did this morning."

"Starting wondering if ya got yourself lost." Stan laughs, patting Soos's back as he sits down beside him.

"Nah but they did take forever to make the pizza, I think I saw a gnome back in the kitchen." Soos points out, taking a slice for himself.

"Would that be considered a health-code violation?" Stan asks, grabbing a slice for himself too and offers one to his brother but Ford just declines it with a shake of his head. Something about his health or whatever.

"I dunno but I think it would be funny to watch all those little guys in the back making pizza." Soos laughs and looks at his own slice. "You don't think they made ours, do you?"

"I don't know?"

"Gnome pizza, dude." Ford plants his face into his hand and groans, hearing Stan laugh a little at his dispense.

The three ate a little more while fooling around with the idea of pizza baking gnomes before it starts getting late, Bud comes by and chats with them a little before visiting hours were over.

"We'll see ya'll later, thanks for stopping by and visiting." Bud pats Ford's shoulder as they all walk outside into the hallway and loops an arm around Stan's shoulders, pulling the other twin close as well. "Glad to see both of ya putting aside your rivalries and getting along."

"Eh, yeah." Stan leans away from the large man but doesn't shrug off his arm, seeing he had his other arm around Ford as well. "We're just glad he's doing fine, really sorry that he got hurt in the first place."

"I just wish I could have done something when that boy was in my truck, shouldn't have let Gideon run off with that monster." Bud sighs, letting his arms slip from their shoulders. "Should have noticed that Gideon wasn't looking too comfortable...should have done something to help."

"Don't blame yourself, Mr. Gleeful." Ford tells him, wanting to comfort him but still didn't know how to do so, just patting the man's arm. "There's nothing you could have done, you didn't know."

"I could have stopped him from hurting my boy." Bud replies, his hands curling into fists. "If I had kept Gideon from getting out of the truck, he wouldn't be laying in there with those nasty burns and I wouldn't be standing here feeling like a horrible father!"

"Bill-he would have killed you." Ford shakes his head, trying to reason with him. "We're just lucky nobody got killed because of all this."

"But why did target my son in the first place?" Ford looks over to Stan, who just shrugs in return. Bud stares at the two and crosses his arms. "What? Is there something ya'll aren't telling me?"

"Actually...there is." Ford says, turning his attention back to the boy's father and nervously tugs on the sleeve of his coat. "The person who attacked your son was using him to get something I had in the shack, something he couldn't get himself."

"Why did this person want something you had and why did he decide to use my son to get it?" The tone in Bud's is a irked one, Ford can tell the other was growing more angry by just his body language and holds his hands up in defense.

"Because he wasn't human and couldn't get through the fields I had up protecting the Sha-." Ford tries to explain but the man's strong hands grab him by the front of his clothes and Ford feels himself being forcibly shoved up against the plain white wall, his breath being knocked out of his lungs by the force.

"Hey, let go of him!" Ford hears Stan shout, grabbing Bud by his arm to try and pull him away from his brother but the man's grip doesn't let up. Soos drops his box of leftovers to help pull the man away from him as well, telling him there was no need for violence but Bud doesn't want hear it.

"So it's your fault my boys hurt?!" Bud shouts in his face, cheeks red from anger and he slams Ford against the wall again. "You and your stupid journals, if it weren't for you..."

Bud just lets him go and shoves the other two out of his way, turning away from them all to get some space. Ford leans against the wall and feels Stan at his side, asking if he's alright but he pays his brother no attention, watching the larger man fuming across the hall.

"I'm sorry, I never meant for any of this to happen." Ford tells him, standing up and leaning off the wall. "I...This wasn't..."

Ford looks away in shame, not able to look the man in the eye when he turns around to face them again.

What could he say? It was his fault, he's the one who brought Bill back in the first place and got Gideon caught up in his mistakes. He deserves the man's anger and whatever Bud dished out, if the man decided to beat him to a bloody pulp, he wouldn't fight back.

"My lil' boy could have died because of you," Bud frowns but his anger was gone, only leaving a sad tone in his voice. "Your journals, he became obsessed with them and it made our lives horrible."

"Bud, that's not Ford's fault your kid took things too far-"

"No, I'll take responsibility for my work." Ford cuts Stan off and approaches Bud, frowning but meets his eyes. "I'm sorry Gideon got hurt because of all this but he was trying to help me and protect my family. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for your son, Stan wouldn't be either and he would have gone after our niece and nephew afterwards too. Gideon saved all our lives."

"..." Bud rubs his eyes with the back of his hand and a sob escapes him, his body shaking as he suddenly grabs Ford and pulls him into a tight hug. Ford tenses in his arms but slowly eases against him, patting his back and lets man rest his head against his shoulder. Stan lets out a relieved sigh and leans against the doorframe, hearing Gideon asking what's going on from inside the room and notices a few nurses staring at them.

Might as well put the boy's worries to ease and Stan slips back into the bedroom, closing the door behind him.

"What was that noise? I heard something slam against the wall there." Gideon frowns, sitting up in his bed. "Why is my father yelling, what's going on?"

"Yer dad is just a little stressed, kid." Stan tells him, leaning against the door. "This whole situation with Bilł just has everyone drained and he's just letting off some stream."

"Did he hurt anyone?" He asks with concern, like he heard what his father was shouting about. "He was yelling at yer brother, wasn't he?"

"...Yeah, he was." Stan peers through the small window in the door to see that Bud was still hugging his brother and Ford was still rubbing his back. "Everything's fine now, he's clinging onto Ford like he'd shatter if he lets him go."

"You all should head home, it's getting late and I bet ya'll are tired." Gideon smiles and pulls out his phone. "Besides I told mom, I'd call her after visiting hours."

"Alright, just let me pry yer father off my brother and we'll be going." Stan turns to leave through the door again but pauses, hand still on the handle. "And hey, kid?"

"Yea' old man?"

"Thanks for helping me save my brother, it really means a lot to me."


End file.
